


Something on his mind

by orphan_account



Series: FURTHER Universe [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), K-pop
Genre: Aliens, F/M, Gay Male Character, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Mental Anguish, Mentioned Lee Taemin, Mentioned Monsta X Ensemble, Mentioned Other K-pop Artist(s), My First Fanfic, Mystery, N.Flying - Freeform, Not Beta Read, Touring, Trans Male Character, bts - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-10-27 19:27:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17772821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The Doctor and Team TARDIS find themselves flung into the world of Korean idols and drama in their latest adventure to help a rookie band on tour before a mysterious force drives one of them beyond the point of no return. But will they be able to save them in time when nothing the Doctor does seems to point to an answer of any kind. And can Ryan keep calm in the face of his bias?





	1. The Doctor always gets lost at first

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction - EVER. I've been writing a few things here and there but always my own characters. This story is based off a dream I had and I had to write it down.  
> This is going to be mostly based on the Doctor Who aspect however I have plans to continue with my OCs in another story (or several) depending on what people think.  
> Feedback really appreciated but please go easy on me.  
> The upload schedule is likely to be a bit all over the place but I will try to get it all up in a decent time frame.  
> A little warning for coming chapters where eating disorders are hinted at and panic attacks occur. Everything is from an external view point but please be careful of you are sensitive to such things.  
> I hope you all enjoy.

"Looking good Graham!" Exclaimed the Doctor "Very swish."

Graham turned away from the mirror he had been trying out some sunglasses in and glanced at the Doctor hanging upside-down from the TARDIS gangway.

"Not for naught, Doc., but shouldn't you be steering this thing?"

"Where's your sense of adventure Graham?" The Doctor huffed out before hauling herself back onto the upper level and returning to the TARDIS display.

"It's probably back at the 9th time you tried to land in 1968 for the Elvis Comeback Special." He muttered.

"Its only been eight times;" came the Doctor's reply from far above. "she just needs to stretch her legs a bit. Don't you girl?"

"He's right Doctor," called Yaz from her position on an overstuffed bean bag next to Ryan. "Its actually been eleven times now."

"Yeah, anyone would think you couldn't fly." Added Ryan.

"I can fly the old girl with my eyes shut. It's all about -"

The Doctors response was cut off by a rapid beeping and a deep groaning of metal from somewhere deep in the ship. The noises grew to a deafening volume before suddenly stopping; leaving a ringing silence in their wake.

"You were saying Doc.?" Graham asked wearily.

"Nothing to be concerned about." Came the Doctor's strained reply.

"It sounded pretty concerning." Said Yaz, raising an eyebrow at the others before she disappeared up the stairs.

"Why couldn't we just have a simple trip to see the rock and roll king?" Muttered Graham "Is that too much to ask?"

"As long as we don't have to deal with big spiders or even bigger jerks i'm happy" sighed Ryan

"I suppose do we always get there in the end." 

Graham took one last look in the mirror before moving to the armchair they had picked up in the galactic market. After slowly lowering himself into the plush cushions he begun to muse about how much his life had changed in the last few weeks. Yes, he has lost Grace but he had gained so much more. They all had.

Turning his gaze over to Ryan playing with his phone on the beanbag he felt pride and happiness settle in his gut. This was a far cry from working in a packing line. He was glad his adoptive grandson was getting some life experience.

"You do look pretty swish."

Graham groaned and took off the glasses, folding them and tucking them into his jacket pocket.

"You shouldn't encourage her." He tutted.

"At least I didn't teach her 'shook'! That was all Yaz." Protested Ryan but he was grinning over his phone.

Another round of resonant creaking stopped Graham from retorting and instead he turned his attention to the slight shaking of the ship.

"Doc?" He called "Are we still not being concerned by this?"

A muffled shout sounded from the floor above them and the two men locked gazes before heading for the stairs to find the others.

Yaz was fighting against a valve spewing steam with a greenish hue while the Doctor ran around the center console in a frenzy.

"What do you need us to do?" Demanded Ryan

"Help Yaz. The TARDIS has locked onto something I'm trying to land safely." Said the Doctor, her voice was strained as she ran to yet another lever and slammed some buttons.

More steam erupted from the floor near Ryan who yelped and jumped backwards. The deep booming had returned and brought with it a worrying shuddering that pushed Ryan further off balance and on to his knees.

"Why aren't you working?" The Doctor gritted out only just refraining from kicking out at the console. 

She had scrunched up her face and her hands restlessly fluffed up her hair as she searched her brain for an answer. Abruptly her eyes widened and she sprinted to the main screen.

"Of course!"

At the seemingly random tapping the shaking stopped and the steam seemed to die down. The Doctor stretched over the console and twisted a little wheel until the unmistakable sound of the TARDIS materializing could be heard.

With the last boom of the TARDIS falling quiet the group took a collective sigh of relief.

"Nice one Doc." Beamed Yaz

Ryan laughed as he picked himself off the floor.

"Yeah nice one."

Graham shook his head and glanced around at the carnage of the room. Paper and books had fallen everywhere. As had the suit of armor Yaz had won on one of their adventures for protecting a princess from a rapid alien monster. He toed at the now dented helmet lying at his feet and sighed once again.

"I don't suppose there is much luck we crash landed in 1968 did we?" He asked.

"Oh lighten up Graham." The Doctor scolded "We're exactly where we are meant to be."

Turning on her heel she linked arms with Ryan and Yaz pulling them towards the TARDIS doors completely ignoring the mess of her ship all around them.

"Come on squad.... fam? mates? gang? No I still don't know what to call us. Anyway lets go."

Ryan and Yaz hollered as they walked beginning to hype up the mood.

"Elvis! Elvis! Elvis!" They chanted.

Graham shook his head but couldn't help the smile that was growing on his lips. He followed the three of them to the doors.

"Ready to meet The King Graham?" Asked the Doctor placing both hands on the door handles.

"You bet."

The Doctor grinned around at them all before throwing the double doors open with a flourish and strutting outside. Graham stood transfixed on the threshold. Through the TARDIS doors was a large room full of a mess of tick wires and black metal boxes heaped in every corner. People dressed in full black with headsets on bustled around with focus evident on their faces. It looked like backstage. Were they really backstage at the Elvis Comeback Special?

Graham's hands began to shake at how close he was to meeting someone he had idolized for years. Someone he had blasted on he bus for over a decade to entertain the old ladies on his route.

This is it, he thought.

Graham stepped through the door into the sweltering backstage area and looked around with giddy eyes.

"I can't believe it" he gasped "I just can't believe it."

As they all stood looking around something caught Yaz's eye. She frowned and stepped closer to get a better look.

"Don't believe it just yet Graham. Look."

Yaz pointed at a stage hand sitting with her back against one of the sound equipment boxes and playing with...

"Is that a smart phone?" Asked Ryan incredulously.

Yaz nodded.

"They definitely didn't have those in 1968."

"No they didn't." Said the Doctor in an ominous tone.

"So where are we then? Or when?" Questioned Ryan looking around for more clues.

"I don't know." Uttered the Doctor "But I think we should find out. The TARDIS brought us here for a reason."

After sharing determined nods the group moved away from the TARDIS and Graham swung the doors closed. The snap of the lock clicking into place seemed to also bring their presence to the attention of everyone around them as they all turned at once.

"Excuse me, but you can't be back here." 

They all turned to the voice that had come from behind them.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Said a young woman stepping closer to the group.

"Hello," began to Doctor bending slightly as the waist and smiling brightly "I'm the Doctor and this is Yaz, Ryan and Graham. We've come to help." She swept her arm wide to point them all out individually before turning back to the woman.

The woman's eyebrows furrowed in confusion before she reached for the radio on her chest and called for security and someone called Wilkins before meeting their eyes again to address them.

"I understand that you want to see them. You're probably very excited but I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."

"Them? Yes! We definitely want to see them. That why we're here." exclaimed the Doctor.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible Ma'am."

The new voice spoke from off to the left with much more authority and power than the stage manger had. The harried woman looked to the newcomer with relief and hurried away.

"I'm Detective Wilkins. I'm going to need you all to come with me for a little chat."

"Of course lead the way." The Doctor smiled even bigger and shoved her hands into her trouser pockets; rocking back on her heels.

Detective Wilkins looked them all over curiously before nodding and heading off towards a heavy stage door. The four of them glanced between each other and with a shrug from Yaz followed the Detective further into the maze of corridors in the venue.

Ryan fell in step beside Yaz.

“Do you think she has a plan?” He asked quietly.

“I don’t know. We just got here, where ever here is.” She replied looking around while trying to appear casual.

“I think we must be on Earth at least.” Mused Ryan “The smart phones for one and also-“

Before Ryan could continue he tripped on some wires and crashed through a rail of blue, white and pink costumes. Everything landing in a heap and massive crash.

“What are you playing at?” Detective Wilkins shouted angrily from further down the hallway.

“I’m sorry.” Flustered Ryan “I didn’t see the.. the.. well I tripped.”

“I can see that.” The Detective stated looking thoroughly unimpressed. “Get up and follow me.”

Ryan stood and brushed himself off looking around for what he had tripped on but found nothing. It must have just been his own feet again.

“You alright son?” Asked Graham, eyes darting back and forth between Ryan’s crumpled form and the even more crumpled clothes on the floor.

“Yeah. I’m good.” Shrugged Ryan. “I hope they weren’t too important.”

“I’m sure everything will be fine” chimed the Doctor clapping her hand on his shoulder “Now let’s get a move on.”

As the group moved on Ryan cast one last glance back scanning the floor to find what had made him stumble. As he was about to turn away his eyes landed on a poster stuck to the wall advertising the act that would perform in the venue.

Ryan froze.

“Ryan?” Called Yaz “You okay there?”

“I know where we are.” He whispered back pointing to the poster.

The others all followed his finger to the pictured group of five Korean boys with their arms slung around each other and blinding white smiles matching equally bright ranbow dye jobs.

“What do you mean? Who are-” began the Doctor.

She didn’t have time to finish as Detective Wilkins returned with two abnormally large men to finally hustle the group into a spare dressing room.

Once the security had left and locked the door with the threat they were right outside so not to cause any trouble the others all rounded on Ryan.

“What were you talking about back there?” asked the Doctor

“On the poster” explained Ryan “I recognized them. It’s a South Korean Idol group called FURTHER.”

“A what now?” Graham inquired.

“A boyband from Korea. They dance and sing and rap.”

“That makes sense as to why we are backstage then.” Concluded Yaz “If they are anything like Western groups then this must be a concert.”

“But that still doesn’t answer why the TARDIS brought us here.” The Doctor began pacing the length of the room deep in thought.

“It must be the boys. They need our help.” Said Ryan excitedly.

“How do you know so much about them anyway?” Asked Yaz.

“I’m a fan. More so of BTS or N.Flying but FURTHER is pretty cool.”

“Wait a minute.” Graham rubbed his forehead in confusion “Your mouth is moving but I don’t think your speaking actual words. What's BNS and T.Flying got to do with anything?”

“It's BTS and N.Flying. They’re other idol groups that I listen too.” Ryan shrugged.

“Why did me and your nan never know about this?” Graham wondered.

“Well, I’m glad Ryan has his passions but you can both sort this out later.” Interrupted the Doctor.

“The Doc is right.” Added Yaz. “ We need to figure out what’s going on. Like why there is a Detective on standby when they have security like the gorillas waiting outside. It's hardly necessary."

“Good thinking Yaz.” The Doctor nodded. “Okay team… band? Crew? Never mind. Let’s just sort out a plan.”


	2. Fake IDs anyone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're back at it again boys. I wrote this instead of getting drunk so yay fanfiction for stopping bad habits.  
> Finally introducing my OCs I hope you like them and don't find anything offensive.  
> As before feedback is very welcome and I hope you enjoy the story.

“Can’t you do anything Doc.?” Yaz sighed from where she sat leaning against the wall watching the Doctor pace up and down the side of the room.

“We know we need to be here.” The Doctor surmised “The TARDIS brought us here for a reason. I think we should stay put and ask the detective.”

“We can’t just wait here!” Protested Ryan “What if something happens to the boys. What if something has already happened.”

“Calm down Ryan.” Said Yaz “We don’t even know something is wrong yet.”

The Doctor stopped pacing and looked around at the group’s expectant faces. Something about the way the TARDIS has behaved concerned her. She felt the urgency and desperation of her ship to reach someone. Someone was in great distress and the Doctor didn’t know who or even where to start looking.

Once the TARDIS had landed she had fallen dormant and all the Doctor could do was act confident; while possibly leading her companions into something very dangerous with no knowledge at all. It all made her very wary of how their actions could affect the situation. If anything knew they were here would that put them all in danger? She just didn’t know.

“Yaz is right, we have to keep calm; learn everything we can.” The Doctor decided. “Learning is great! We all love learning.”

“Not to put a damper on you Doc.” Graham spoke up from where he stood next to Yaz, “But if that woman is the police she had a pretty distinct American accent…”

Yaz looked up startled as she began to piece together where Graham was going with his thought.

“We don’t have any passports or any record of entering the US.”

“That sounds serious.” Said Ryan “It is pretty serious right?”

“She could be reporting us as we speak.” Gasped Yaz “Doc we need to get out of here.”

“I don’t want to go to Guantanamo.” Whined Ryan.

“You two calm down” Repeated the Doctor “and Graham maybe keep the doomsday talk to yourself. We’ll be fine.”

The forced emphasis the Doctor placed on her words, dragging out the vowels, did nothing to placate the others.

“Probably.”

“If you say so Doc.” Graham said, not looking very convinced.

The tension in the atmosphere grew as they sat in silence thinking about what this could all mean and the Doctor was struck once again with the fear and helplessness she had felt back in the TARDIS. Now was not the time to sit around, it was time to act.

The Doctor moved across the room and crouched in front of the locked door waving her sonic along the edges. She brought the sonic up to her face to check the display before she sighed and went back to scanning the door.

“What are you doing?” Asked Ryan.

“Trying to get us out of here. I can’t have my crack team getting criminal records.” “The Doctor replied with a laugh.

Everyone continued to observe the Doctor’s scanning until she huffed and rattled the door handle violently. Having confirmed the door was firmly locked she sat back with a defeated sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Graham asked as he walked to stand behind the Doctor at the door.

“I can’t unlock the door.”

“What doesn’t it work on wood or something?” Joked Ryan. “That’s pretty useless.”

“The sonic isn’t useless” Quipped the Doctor “I just haven’t got around to upgrading it yet is all.”

Ryan held his hands up in surrender before sinking to the floor besides Yaz. The Doctor looked down at the sonic in her hands and heaved a sigh.

“Oh well Doc. There’s always next time.” Graham placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

The Doctor shrugged off Graham’s hand and went back to scanning at the door. The others shared a worried look behind her back. They were all worried about getting in trouble but the Doctor would be in the most danger off all. The last thing any of them needed was scientists whisking the Doctor away into a lab somewhere while they were locked away in prison and unable to help.

“I can hear you all worrying you know.” The Doctor muttered making the rest of them laugh.

“Who would have thought that after everything we’ve seen being caught in the USA is the most terrifying.” Ryan said shaking his head.

Yaz leaned over to bump her shoulder against Ryan’s in support and he offered a weak smile in response.

Graham knelt down next to the Doctor and began looking over the door as well. Just as he reached out to inspect the lower hinges the door swung open to reveal Detective Wilkins.

“What are you doing?” Frowned the Detective; taking in the position of the two on the floor in front of her.

The people in the room all stood to attention; Yaz and Ryan moved forward to join the other two. Everyone was silent and tense.

“I asked what you were doing.”

“We were just making ourselves comfortable.” Replied the Doctor.

Detective Wilkins narrowed her eyes and looked between the door and the group standing in the room. Shaking her head she gestured to the low sofas at the back of the room and they all reluctantly sat down.

“I want to start with getting your names again please.” Started the Detective.

“I’m the Doctor and this is Ryan Sinclair, Graham O’Brien and Yasmin Khan.”

“The Doctor?” Asked Wilkins “Doctor Who?”

“No, just The Doctor.”  
“Are you deliberately trying to obstruct my job?”

“No! No, not at all!” Cut in Yaz “Those are our names.”

“I’m going to need to see some identification.”

“Of course.” Uttered the Doctor, she slapped her forehead and began rummaging in her pockets.

The Detective seemed to become more uncomfortable as the search continued; her hands twitched to her gun holstered at her waist.

“Ma’am I’m going to have to ask you to stop that. One of my officers can search you.”

“Nonsense!” Huffed the Doctor “I’ve almost go it. It’s these pockets I’m not used to women’s clothing yet.”

“Ma’am I really must ask you to-”

The Doctor’s shout of triumph cut off the Detective as she brandished the psychic paper in the air.

“Here you are. This is us.”

Sceptically Wilkins took the papers and read them. Her eyes widened in surprise before she turned to one of her officers.

“Did you know about this?”

“No, Detective.”

“So you’re an investigative team sent by the bands management?”

“Yes that’s us.” Smiled Yaz feeling in her element as a police officer.

“We’re here to investigate the… the… Investigation.” Stuttered Ryan.

“Of course.” Wilkins replied with a strained smile “Although maybe you could tell your employer there is no need to check up on us.”

“They aren’t we assure you” Yaz reassured the Detective “We were simply sent to offer any assistance.”

“Yes, we’re what you might call experts in this field.” Added the Doctor.

The Detective nodded and some of her brown hair fell from the short pony tail at the back of her head. Brushing aside the strands with a sigh Wilkins seemed to relax a little.

“I guess we could use some help. These incidents have been worrying.”

“Incidents?” Questioned Graham.

The frown returned to the Detective’s face.

“You weren’t informed beforehand?”

“What my college means is we would like to get another account from you on what has happened.” The Doctor quickly soothed the Detective and steered the conversation back to the trouble at hand.

“Of course. I’m sure you will want to talk to the boys as well and get their opinions.”

“Definitely, that would be helpful.”

“Well there have been serval incidents involving fans and the group during the tour. Most were easy to solve: incidents of theft, harassment and one of the boys even had some hair cut off but they were easy to deal with.”

The Detective took a breath and scrubbed at her face.

“Unfortunately recently some of the boys have reported people in their rooms and being followed. You understand why we thought you were here for other reasons when you turned up unannounced. We had to detain you.”

“Certainly.” Yaz answered, hearing the shocked inflection in her own voice “It was our mistake. We should have notified you ahead of time.”

Ryan’s face was a mask of anger and the others were all as shocked as Yaz. The behaviour of supposed fans was shocking and horrible.

“Can we speak to the boys now?” Asked the Doctor.

Wilkins checked her watch before nodding and standing. She smoothed out the wrinkles in her ill-fitting suit jacket and exhaustion seemed to seep out of her very being.

“I can take you through to their dressing room but they are practising right now.”

“Thank you that would be great.” Smiled Yaz.

Wilkins lead the way back through the warren of corridors that were all cluttered with equipment, costumes and posters littered all over the walls. As the group got closer to their destination they could hear the loud music from the stage area.

Ryan began bouncing out of excitement. Some of his idols were so close and he was going to meet them. He was going to protect them. Ryan felt his resolve harden as he felt the worry from earlier return over the nervous energy he experienced now.

He was brought out of his musing by the announcement that they had arrived and they were welcome to sit and wait. The Detective and her officers filed out and the group was left alone once again.

“Well this is different.” Said Yaz pulling a face at the extreme mess that had taken over the room.

There were food wrappers lying on every available surface and clothing covering everything else. Makeup and hair products were stuffed on some tables in the corner while racks upon racks of clothing took up most of the space.

“It’s amazing.” Breathed Ryan as he span around taking in the space that the band relaxed and prepared in. He knew he probably had the brightest stars in his eyes but he couldn’t believe he was actually here.

“It’s amazingly smelly.” Corrected Yaz with a teasing smile.

“Shut up.”

“Stop bickering you two.” The Doctor scolded from where she was seated on the sofas slowly beginning to slide down into an almost vertical position.

“Yeah, maybe Ryan could tell us a bit more about the band before we meet them considering we are meant to be from their management.”

“Oh good idea Graham.” The Doctor exclaimed sitting up. “Show us what you’re made of Sinclair.”

The group settled the sofas and looked expectantly to Ryan.

“Okay so FURTHER is made up of five guys that debuted in 2016. Although two of the members had already been a duo from 2008 for five years.”

“Wow, how old are they? Everyone kept saying ‘boys’ and I was imagining One Direction level.” Queried Yaz.

“They’re all in their early twenties I think.” Replied Ryan.

“So young.”

“Yeah but they are super talented and so cool.”

“Enough gushing Ryan. Get back to the information giving.” Said the Doctor.

“Right,” Ryan smiled sheepishly “Well we have P’yon ChungGuk who is the leader, Ho SeungEun, Liao Shuren, Park DongHyeon, and Park WooSung.”

“That is a lot of names.” Replied Graham “Why do they need so many people in a band.”

“That’s nothing” Laughed Ryan “One group has like 21 members or something.”

“That’s insane.” Yaz said sounding astonished. “Like how?”

“I don’t really know to be honest.”

As they all sat in contemplative silence they heard a commotion getting closer. Raised voices and running footsteps grew louder until the door to the room flew open in an explosion of colour, excited voices and movement.

People were suddenly everywhere and the room felt impossibly small with all the extra activity. Team TARDIS recognised the people as the members from the poster just as they seemed to realise they weren’t alone in the room.

They all immediately stopped moving and looked over to a tiny boy that had been reaching for some grapes on one of the tables.

There was a long pause while both groups seemed to observe the other before the boy seemed to gather himself together and step forward.

He turned first to a taller boy with growing out bleach blonde hair and told him to go and get their manager quickly before turning to another boy.

“WooSung, introduce yourself in English and ask the why they are here.” He said quietly clearly not expecting the strangers to understand his Korean.

A muscular boy with shaggy back hair hanging in his eyes stepped forward and cleared his throat while the others watched on; tension evident in their frames.

“Good afternoon, my name is Park WooSung. Can I help you with anything?”


	3. Uninvited guests

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We out here posting again? Who is she?  
> The boys of my original band are finally introduced in this chapter and I hope you can follow who everyone is.  
> From now on there may be mention of eating disorders in the past and panic attacks. However everything will be in third person and not graphic. If any of this stuff bothers you please be careful.  
> As always let me know what you think, feedback is very much welcome.  
> I hope you enjoy.

“Actually, we're here to help you.” Said the Doctor.

The boy who had spoken, WooSung, froze in place while the others seemed to huddle closer in centre of the room where they had gravitated together. They all looked between one another in surprise and the two tallest members seemed to have an exchange with their eyes.

They pushed the smallest boy behind their muscular backs in protection and it tugged on Graham’s heart that these young men knew how to response to a threat so professionally. Yaz had been right they were so young. Too young to be dealing with this.

“You know Korean?” The biggest of the group asked.

“Yeah.” Replied The Doctor “We’re from management, they sent us to help with the incidents.”

WooSung squinted down at them clearly not convinced.

“You’re lying.”

“WooSung. Don’t.” Warned one of the others, the tallest with jet black hair, from where he stood completely obscuring his smaller member.

“But she is Hyung. Something isn’t right.”

“We just need to wait for Manager Lee then we can sort this all out.”

“He’s right-” Began Yaz but she was overridden by WooSung.

“How did you even get in here?”

“Detective Wilkins told us we could wait to talk to you.” Explained Yaz.

“Where is she then?”

“I don’t know she left right before you arrived.”

“Oh really. She did, did she?”

“Yes she did.”

WooSung scoffed and glanced at his other members.

“Can you belief this? They are getting more and more desperate.”

“Maybe we should hear them out WooSung.” Suggested one of the boys with a bright red mullet.

“Oh forget it.” Muttered WooSung rounding on the others again and taking a step forward.

“Who are you people?”

“We’ve already told you,” Said Yaz patiently “We were sent by-”

“Don’t lie to me!” Yelled WooSung stepping even closer.

Yaz stumbled backwards in surprise while the red haired boy sprang forward to put a restraining hand on WooSung’s arm.

“Let go of me DongHyeon.”

WooSung struggled against the grip but the other merely tightened his hold and glared back.

“Stop and think WooSung. We need to wait.”

“I’m not waiting for some crazy fans to scare ChungGuk out of his mind, Hyung. I can’t watch that, not again.”

The hidden boy tensed at the statement and seemed to shrink further behind his human shield. His tiny hands clutching the back of the shirt of the boy in front of him. The other boy looked over his shoulder and his frown deepened. He reached a hand behind himself to rub the slightly shaking figure’s arm in comfort.

“We just have to wait, WooSung.” He reasoned softly mindful of the boy behind him.

“Please if you just-” Yaz tried again but was ignored.

“That’s bullshit SeungEun.” WooSung’s voice had begun to slowly rise again.

"I would have thought you, of all people, would care more about this!"

He crossed his arms in anger and glared daggers at the group that had jumped up from the sofas when the heated argument had started.

“Calm down, WooSung, you’re the only one scaring ChungGuk here. Check your tone.” The one that must be SeungEun said with a steely look in his eyes.

Once the words were out it was as if all the anger drained from WooSung and he glanced over ChungGuk with guilt clear in his gaze.

“I’m sorry Gukkie. I just…” WooSung’s apology trailed off and he began to rub at his nose with anxious fingers.

“It’s okay.” A muffled voice replied from ChungGuk where he was obscured behind SeungEun.

With the calmer atmosphere Yaz tired again to reassure the young men of their intentions.

“We’re honestly just here to help. We want to make sure you guys are safe.”

“She’s right.” Added the Doctor “We heard about what was going on and we came to help.”

“You said you were from management?” Asked DongHyeon from where he still hovered by WooSung keeping a close eye on his angry bandmate.

“We got a call that someone needed help.” Stated the Doctor deliberately keeping it vague.

WooSung noticed the non-answer immediately and seemed to tense up again but leaned into the waiting arms of DongHyeon instead.

Everyone took a calming breath as the tension in the room reduced dramatically. The frantic steps of two people sounded in the hall seconds before the boy from earlier returned with an older woman in tow.

“I found Manager Lee, ChungGuk-gē.” The boy said slightly out of breath. “We heard shouting.”

“Is everything okay in here?” Asked the manger with the concern in her voice fighting the equally breathless quality.

“Yeah Manager-nim, we were just startled by these people.” Replied SeungEun.

The manager nodded and looked over at the group still standing awkwardly by the sofas.

“You must be the team sent from management that Detective Wilkins messaged me about.”

“Yes that’s us.” The Doctor grinned “Investigative team extraordinaire.”

“I’m sorry we’re not more prepared.” The manager bowed deeply “The message from the company about your arrival must have been misplaced.”

“That’s quiet all right. We’ve sorted it all out now.”

“Indeed.” The Manager’s lips twitched in a smile.

“Sorry to be so rude but I think ChungGuk needs to sit down.” SeungEun interrupted from where he still stood with ChungGuk clutching his shirt.

The Manager’s concern returned full force and she indicated for everyone to sit down on the many sofas.

“Does he need a Doctor?”

At SeungEun’s head shake she leaned forward and waited for ChungGuk to settle himself on the sofa huddled under SeungEun’s arm with DongHyeon supporting his other side.  
Shuren sat hesitantly on the arm rest and leaned over to rest he arm along the back and place his hand on ChungGuk’s shoulder. WooSung took a seat opposite the other members and next to his managers while The Doctor, Yaz, Ryan and Graham split themselves on the two remaining sofas on either side of the seating area.

“Did you push yourself too hard again ChungGuk-a?” Their manager asked gently.

SeungEun stroked ChungGuk’s hair gently as they waited for his response. He fiddled with the hem of his oversized shirt before looking up to meet the manager’s gaze.

“No, I’m okay.” He said finally sitting up. “I was just really tired and then everyone started shouting. I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“Okay if you’re sure.”

“Yes I’m fine Noona.”

With one last sweep of her eyes the manager seemed satisfied and leaned back to address the rest of the group.

“As you can see these issues are having a profound effect on the group.”

“Yes we apologise for our behaviour earlier.” Added DongHyeon bowing as much as his seated position would allow.

He looked pointedly over at WooSung who simply huffed and slid down in his seat looking sulky. Deliberately ignoring the hint to apologise.

“That’s alright” The Doctor smiled reassuringly. “We did arrive unannounced you had every right to be mistrustful.”

“Perhaps we could start over then.” The Manager smiled and began introductions.

After everyone had finally begun to relax the Doctor decided it was time to finally get to the bottom of what was going on. Who was the mind that the TARDIS had heard calling out? She just hoped that they were in time to help; there was no doubt that the events had effected the group greatly and it hurt her to see their youthful faces looking so drawn with stress and fear.

Just as she was about to begin Detective Wilkins slipped into the room and perched on a table further away with a nod of greeting.

“I want to start from the beginning about these incidents. What’s the earliest thing you remember?”

“It started off pretty normal from what I remember.” DongHyeon started looking at the others for confirmation.

“Yes just weird letters and fans getting too close when we were out and about.” Added SeungEun.

“Okay so when did it start getting more extreme?” Asked Yaz. 

Her heart broke that these boys thought that kind of behaviour was normal. It certainly explained their earlier reaction. They had probably thought they were crazed fans that had invaded their privacy to who knows what.

“Well I think the first thing on tour was when ChungGuk and Shuren got cornered in a bathroom by fans that shaved their heads to look like boys and had cameras.” Said SeungEun trying to remember all the different instances.

“ChungGuk had his things stolen and a bit of hair cut off on our way into the venue a couple of days ago.” Added WooSung shuddering at the memory.

“We’ve also had to move the boys to a new hotel after they noticed some things had been moved around in the rooms.” Said Wilkins from her spot across the room gaining everyone’s attention.

“That’s horrible.” Graham gritted out “In what world do your fans think this is correct behaviour?”

“Its fine we manage.” Shrugged WooSung, looking defensive and he begun rubbing at his nose again.

Everyone paused deep in thought about the situation the boys were in. The price of fame was definitely steep and these actions were becoming more worrisome as time went on.

“We believe that most of the attacks have been concentrated on ChungGuk.” Explained Wilkins, finally filling the silence.

“It has lead us to consider the possibility that these aren’t random incidents from fans but serious threats from those that oppose the group being supportive of LGBT rights or having an openly transgender member.”

“It is possible” reasoned their manager “ChungGuk-a has definitely been involved in more of the events than the others.”

“As the leader and face of the group it is possible that these people picked him as a target.” Confirmed Wilkins.

“Or it could just be me.” Sighed ChungGuk as he leaned back further into SeungEun’s side and Shuren gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"They don't think i'm good enough. Lots of people have said the group would be better off without me."

“Don’t say that Gukkie.” SeungEun snapped. 

“People have known for years how we work and what we support. Why would they suddenly act out?” Bit out WooSung.

All of the boys looked ready to jump to ChungGuk's defense and convince him of just how wrong those people were.

“It was just a thought.” ChungGuk shrugged.

“We can't ignore anything.” Wilkins conceded. “This is your first tour. Your first real western exposure. Some people have some weird thoughts in their heads. There doesn’t have to be a real reason.”

“Have you had any threats beyond what was generally targeted at the group?” Questioned Yaz.

“Just the usual hate blogs and comments on my Instagram.” Replied ChungGuk as he began picking at the seam of his jeans.

“We’ve been looking into those.” Said Wilkins. “At the moment there seems to be no real threat. Just some closed minded people hiding behind a screen.”

“There’s nothing else?” Asked the Doctor urgently as she leaned forward. “Really think. No matter how weird it may sound we will believe you and we will make sure nothing happens to you. To any of you.”

ChungGuk paused and began to drill holes into his lap with his eyes; redoubling his effort to pull apart his jeans.

“Gukkie?” Whispered SeungEun nudging him gently.

“I... No there’s nothing I can think of.” 

"ChungGuk?" SeungEun said again his voice taking on a sterner quality.

ChungGuk exhaled and looked about as if he was about to mention something before he thought better of it and remained silent.

“Okay well it’s still something we can look into.” Said the Doctor nodding with determination.

The shrill ringing of a phone broke through the discussion and Detective Wilkins quickly excused herself with a muttered apology. The rest of the room’s occupants watched her leave before ChungGuk let out a large yawn setting Shuren off as well.

SeungEun checked his watch and then began moving ChungGuk into a standing position.

“We should probably get ready to go back to the hotel. It’s getting late and we have to practise again tomorrow.”

The other members got up and began to gather their things from around the room.

“Yes that’s a good idea.” Manager Lee also stood before turning back to the others. “Unless there is anything else you will need.”

“Nothing for now.” The Doctor said just as a thought occurred to her. “But we should probably accompany you back to the hotel to make sure everything goes okay.”

“It will be a tight fit in the van but I think we can manage that.” Replied the Manager before she moved out of the room to start her own preparations for leaving.

After watching the boys pack up for a little while Ryan and Yaz moved up onto the sofas closer to Graham and the Doctor.

“Not that all of that wasn’t concerning Doc.” Murmured Graham, “But it doesn’t sound like aliens. Just crazy fans.”

“Graham’s right I don’t see how we can help more than the police already are.” Sighed Yaz.

“We still have to check.” Argued Ryan “We can’t leave now.”

“I agree with Ryan.” The Doctor said faintly “The TARDIS brought us here for a reason. We can at least check out the strange activities at the hotel.”

“Yeah I don’t see the harm in just looking.” Pleaded Ryan looking at Yaz “You’re a police officer; you could help.”

“Okay let’s go then.” Yaz stood; shaking her head she looked over at the boys.

They looked completely worn out as she watched them lean on each other with faint smiles and laughter at something DongHyeon had said. The depth of the affection she saw in  
their eyes reminded her of her sister and how much she missed her own family. She knew that if anything like this had happened to her Yaz would move heaven and earth to help. These boys deserved to feel safe and have fun and she would do anything to help them get it.


	4. Things become a little clearer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're really out here living. I am waaaay to wired to sleep rn.  
> Anyways a few notes about this chapter, lot of banter and exposure for my OC's hope you like them.  
> Again any feedback or comments are greatly appreciated. I'm just here having fun.  
> I hope you enjoy.

Once everyone had collected their things and the boys were bundled up in coats and face masks they all reunited at the back entrance to the concert hall. Chanting and singing from the fans could be heard in deafening volumes coming from outside and several security guards had materialised to make sure everyone got to the van safely.

“Here we go again.” Muttered WooSung has he shoved earbuds in and pulled up his hood to cover his face almost entirely.

“Everybody ready?” Asked ChungGuk looking around for nods of affirmation from everyone. “Okay stay together, keep your heads down and don’t stop moving.”

ChungGuk rolled his shoulders and gave one last check to his mask before stepping forward and allowing the guards to open the doors.

As they walked out of the exit chaos enveloped them as cameras flashed and fans screamed the members’ names. The guards struggled to keep the crazed fans back and allow the boys to move towards the van.

“Is it always like this?” Yelled Yaz as she got pushed into Ryan and DongHyeon who had been walking in front of her.

“This isn’t that bad actually.” DongHyeon shouted back. “It’s pretty late. Most of them have gone home.”

Ryan and Yaz exchanged a wide eyed glance before they scrambled after the group which had begun to forge ahead.

Just as they thought they had made it without incident a fan pushed through the protective buffer between the crowds and the boys to latch herself onto Shuren. Security personnel appeared immediately to pull the crying girl away and stop any others following her. Shuren tugged his jacket back into place and all but ran for the van where the other members had been pushed as the commotion broke out.

When the entire group had made it to the van and the door slammed closed it still took five minutes of traveling for the noise to die down. Everyone was breathing heavily and team TARDIS felt as tired as the boys looked.

“That was crazy.” Whistled Ryan.

“The support is insane.” Laughed DongHyeon as he pulled off his hat to fluff up his red hair again. “But it can be pretty tiring sometimes.”

“You can say that again.” Smirked ChungGuk.

The turnaround of the terrified young man from earlier to the confident leader that sat in front of them made Yaz’s head spin. It was definitely a testament to the professionalism the kid had. However, it was also distressing to know how fast ChungGuk had trained himself to pull out of a panic attack and put up an act.

Only the slight shaking of his hands gave anything away and SeungEun who was seated next to him reached down to hold his hand firmly; his thumb rubbing soothing circles on ChungGuk’s skin. DongHyeon made eye contact with SeungEun over ChungGuk’s head and raised an eyebrow in question. SeungEun tilted his head and gave a little shake before returning his attention to ChungGuk.

Shuren had tucked his lanky body into DongHyeon who moved the other boys head to rest on his shoulder. Meanwhile WooSung had curled up on himself next to the window and turned up his music to the point where everyone could hear the Girls Generation track blaring in his earbuds.

“How far is it to the hotel?” Asked Graham from his camped position in the back.

“About 15 minutes depending on traffic.” Replied Manager Lee before she turned back to the front and began a quite conversation with the driver.

The Doctor settled back into her seat to wait out the ride and met the curious stare of Shuren from where his head rested sideways.

“It’s rude to stare you know.” Teased the Doctor.

Shuren flushed and breathed out a quiet apology while the others all laughed at him.

“It’s because we’ve never met anyone from higher management before.” Giggled ChungGuk.

“What exactly does the Investigative department do that means you need a code name?” Asked DongHyeon.

“A what?” The Doctor frowned.

“Well ‘The Doctor’ can’t be your real name.”

“What if it is?”

“Yeah Hyung, you can’t judge. Didn’t you want to be called The Big Smokey once?” ChungGuk reached over to mess up DongHyeon’s hair.

When SeungEun started laughing at the others indigent squawk ChungGuk rounded on him with an evil gleam in his eye.

“And don’t even get me started on you Hyung. I’ve known you for too long to let you get away with too much.”

“Oh no my fearsome leader please spare me.” SeungEun mock wailed before everyone burst into fits of laughter.

Once the giggles and snickers had finally subsided DongHyeon wiped his eyes and turned back to the Doctor.

“Okay but seriously what do you all do?”

“We investigate weird occurrences and try to help.” Said the Doctor.

“That explains everything then. They’re here for you DongHyeon Hyung.” Teased ChungGuk.

“About time.” Grumped WooSung from his gloomy corner.

DongHyeon simply rolled his eyes before snatching Shuren into his arms.

“You still love Hyung don’t you Rennie-ya?”

“Of course DongHyeon-gē.” Shuren choked out as he struggled from the death hold DongHyeon had on him.

“At least our maknae still respects the eldest Hyung.”

“Stop being dramatic mate.” WooSung grunted; sitting up and angrily removing his earphones.

“Yeah you’re right. They can’t possibly be after me when we have our very own ChungGuk-a in the car.”

“What are you talking about?” ChungGuk twisted round to see DongHyeon clearly.

“Well Gukkie if they want weird occurrences all they have to do is look up the drama you did in 2003 at the ripe old age of eight.”

“Hyung! You promised you wouldn’t bring that up again.” ChungGuk whined.

“I’m just doing my duty to help these weird occurrences come to light Guk-a.”

“He’s right ChungGuk.” Laughed SeungEun “It’s so weird to see what a little diva you were.”

“You could at least pretend to be on my side you know.” ChungGuk pouted.

He pulled his arms inside his large jacket to really turn up the guilt factor and made SeungEun coo over his cuteness while WooSung gagged at the display.

“Oh no! I know why you are really here.” Exclaimed DongHyeon snapping everyone’s attention to him once again.

“It’s because of the aliens that ChungGuk saw.”

The words felt like a bucket of cold water had been thrown on her head as the Doctor had sat watching the endearing exchange. The slight flinch that ChungGuk couldn’t quite cover also had her heart rate skyrocketing.

“Aliens?” Ryan finally managed to choke out.

“Yeah weird right.” Laughed DongHyeon before Shuren elbowed him and he finally realised the stillness of the van.

“Oh you’re serious?”

“What did these aliens look like ChungGuk?” Asked the Doctor.

“It was probably nothing. Just my mind in the dark.” ChungGuk suggested casually however the rapid bouncing of his right leg spoke otherwise.

“It’s not nothing if something is scaring you ChungGuk.” Reassured Yaz leaning forward to talk across the aisle.

ChungGuk glanced down at his lap before setting his jaw and seeming to make up his mind.

“They felt more like a presence really.” He released a shuddering breath “I just saw them out of the corner of my eye, big and grey and fuzzy. It was the feeling that I had something that they wanted rather than anything else.”

“When was this?”

“Back in Korean.”

“Has it happened again afterwards?”

“I haven’t seen them but I’ve felt like… like…”

“We understand ChungGuk.” Yaz looked over at the Doctor but she shook her head.

The Doctor couldn’t think of any aliens that matched that description. Not ones that bothered with human or weren’t deadly upon sight anyway. She needed to get back to the TARDIS for some detection equipment.

“Manager-nim said it was just the stress and possibly some fans.” SeungEun added rubbing his hand up and down ChungGuk’s shoulder where he had begun shaking slightly again.

“Very possible.” Said Graham “But it’s probably better that you tell us if you feel it happening again.”

ChungGuk nodded and went back to fiddling with the inside of his jacket again.

“How about some music?” Offered DongHyeon trying to diffuse the tension in the van. “Any requests?”

“I know this is probably strange but can you play one of your own songs?” Asked Ryan bouncing slightly in his seat out of excitement.

“I don’t see why not” smiled DongHyeon “We are pretty awesome after all. What do you want?”

“Ladders from your album DOCTOR’D is an all-time favourite of mine.”

DongHyeon narrowed his eyes in confusion.

“I think you must be confused Ryan, that’s not one of ours.”

“What? Of course it is.”

“No. I think we would know our own tracks.”

“Yeah it’s not like we've released many yet.” Added WooSung his suspicion of the group returning with a vengeance.

Yaz forced a laugh and stealthily stepped on Ryan’s foot to stop him arguing.

“You probably just misremembered didn’t you Ryan?”

“Ah yeah, probably.”

“Oh that’s embarrassing.” DongHyeon hissed. “Anyway we can still get an absolute bop on.”

He scrolled through his phone for a while before making a pleased noise and selected All In by Monsta X.

“Tune!” 

SeungEun rolled his eyes at his member and leaned his head down to whisper quietly into ChungGuk’s ear. ChungGuk nodded along to what he said and visibly started to calm down. By the time the van arrived at the hotel Taemin's new album had almost lulled all the occupants to sleep.

The boys sleepily climbed from their seats and dragged themselves out into the street. It looked for a second like SeungEun might even lift ChungGuk up bridal style but he instead wrapped a supporting hand around his waist.

“Thank you very much for your hard work.” Said ChungGuk even attempting a bow in his half asleep state.

“We all feel safer knowing you are on the case.” Added DongHyeon which caused WooSung to huff and stalk inside.

“Anything we can do, don’t hesitate to call.” The Doctor offered Manager Lee a piece of paper with her number on it.

“Thank you.” Lee bowed deeply and smiled with relief before she herded the remaining boys into the hotel.

Just before she entered she seemed to freeze and turned back. She had a short conversation with the boys who nodded and made her way back to the van.

“I’m sorry I just remembered something that happened to the boys.”

“What happened?” Asked Yaz where she stood leaning against the van.

“It was back in Korean so I didn’t think it was relevant but if it is someone after ChungGuk then I think…”

“What is it? Anything you remember could be vitally important.”

“There was a time when the members got trapped in a café due to fans crowding outside. We had to send the police to clear the way. It got pretty bad.” The Manager wrapped her arms around her waist and shivered.

The Doctor nodded for her to continue and she took a deep breath to gather herself.

“ChungGuk got caught outside while the rest were trapped. He had to run away from the large group of fans but he said they chased him.”

“That’s terrible.” Gasped the Doctor.

“They followed him for ages and he somehow managed to lose them but we only found him five hours after the incident.”

“He must have been terrified.” Yaz commiserated.

“After he… he was… We found him just wandering the street. He didn’t recognise me at first. It took SeungEun arriving before he came back to himself.”

“You think something happened to him.” Yaz stated seeming to understand the gravity of the situation.

The woman nodded and glanced back the way the boys had disappeared into the hotel reception.

“He hasn’t been the same since then. We're used to his mood swings but he gets tired and anxious and he’s lost a lot of weight.”

“It’s okay to be worried.” The Doctor reassured.

“I thought it might have been the change in testosterone dose at first but his doctor back in Korea said he was fine.”

“We’ll defiantly take a look into it.” Nodded Yaz.

“Thank you.” Sighed Lee “If anything happened to those boys…”

“We understand. I promise we will do anything it takes to help them.” The Doctor smiled and watched as the manager seemed to relax at the promise before bidding them good night and walking into the hotel.

The Doctor and Yaz shared a look before they climbed into the van burdened with the new information.

“Where to Madam?” Asked the driver from the front once the Doctor had returned to her seat.

“Back to the concert venue would be great.”

“Back to the…?” He repeated confused.

“Yes no rest for the wicked.” Laughed the Doctor.

“Of course Madam.”

The driver put the car in gear and they were soon back in the traffic on the way back to the venue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> References for the songs are Monsta X's All In from Mini album 03 The clan Part. 1 Lost. 2016  
> An absolute tune the literally cannot make a song wrong and I am living for their new album.  
> And Taemin's album Press It. (I had Drip Drop on my mind because that is so mellow and awesome.)  
> He new album is bomb too! 2019 is really shaping up to be awesome so far.
> 
> As for my reference to T. I don't personally take it but some of the side effects that I researched on more severe cases can lead to anxiety, depression and pains from what I understand so that's where I was going with that.


	5. What creeps in the dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This weekend has been very productive and the next few chapters are looking pretty good so I'm itching to post them all.  
> I hope you enjoy the story now we are fully into the swing of things.  
> Please leave comments or feedback about what you think.  
> Enjoy xxx

Yaz sat with her legs dangling over the side of the gangway in the main room of the TARDIS and listened to the distant banging of The Doctor hunting for something. Ryan and Graham had left soon after they returned to the venue to search the many rooms for anything remotely alien with the promise to call if they found anything.

The TARDIS had become dormant since they had all emergency landed a couple of hours ago. Yaz pondered the attitude of the ship. Had the TARDIS always been this temperamental of had she learned.

Her musing was broken by the loud sound of several heavy objects falling over. The noise was quickly followed by some angry words in an alien language. She smiled. If the TARDIS had learned her personality from someone it was clear who it might be.

Shaking her head Yaz called out.

“Anything I can do Doc.?”

“No, no. I have everything under control.” Came a strangled reply.

“You absolutely sure? Two pairs of eyes are better than one.”

“I’ve almost got it.”

Another series of loud crashed were heard.

“Okay now I’ve almost got it.”

“Got what Doctor?” Yaz asked in amused confusion.

“This beauty!” The Doctor beamed and struck a pose as she appeared in the room.

Yaz couldn’t help but laugh.

The Doctor stood with what looked like a ghostbusters backpack strapped to her and a large saucepan in her hand.

“This,” The Doctor continued “should pick up any alien presence in the area.”

“And here I thought it was a new fashion accessory.”

“You think?” The Doctor gave a clumsy twirl.

“Well anything is better than that bowtie you tried for a while.”

“Hey! Bowtie’s are cool.”

“Whatever you say.”

The Doctor made her way further into the room and shrugged off the alien detection device.

“Ryan and Graham aren’t back yet?”

“No. I think Ryan is probably being super diligent to protect his idols.” Yaz shrugged.

“Just as well.”

Silence settled over the pair as they thought about everything they had learned earlier. It was difficult to even imagine what the boys were going through. Yaz really hoped they could help, even if it was just aiding the police in stopping some out of control fans. 

The Doctor moved over to the display screen and Yaz leaned back on her arms to watch upside-down. The Doctor tapped at the screen a few times and muttered something that Yaz knew probably wasn’t aimed at her.

She let her gaze wander over the interior of the TARDIS until it landed on the device The Doctor had brought out.

“So what kind of alien do you think we’re dealing with Doc?”

The Doctor stopped what she was doing and turned to lean back on the console.

“It’s difficult to say.” She frowned and crossed her arms in thought.

“Do you think it has anything to do with what happened to ChungGuk?” Yaz asked also turning around and standing up.

“It’s possible. Especially because the strange occurrences seem to centre around him as well.”

“It is a bit of a coincidence.”

“A big one.” The Doctor agreed.

The door to the TARDIS opened and a very tired looking pair walked in. The smell of curry filled the room and Yaz walked forward to talk the takeaway bags from Graham.

“Did you find anything?” 

“Nothing.” Replied Ryan looking dejected. “Absolutely nothing.”

“Well at least we now have food. I’m starving.” The Doctor smiled and swatted down to rummage around in the bag where Yaz had placed them on the floor.

Graham sat down heavily on the chair knocking the detection device over in the processes.

“Careful!” Pouted The Doctor.

“What is that monstrosity Doc.?” Graham had the decency to look a little guilty.

Takeaway box in hand The Doctor walked over to point out the finer points of the device to a very uninterested looking Graham.

Yaz smiled at the adorable excitement and wild hand gestures before turning to hunt for her own food. Ryan was still knelt by the bags seemingly making a life of death decision between the masala and the vindaloo. Yaz reached out and stole the latter before bumping Ryan’s shoulder.

“You doing okay?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll help them. Don’t worry.”

“I know we will.” Ryan sighed. “The Doctor will sort it all out, it’s just that…”

“Just what?” Yaz asked.

“I’m their fan. I’ve followed them since debut. I should have seen this.”

“They’re professionals. It’s probably a compliment that you didn’t know anything was wrong.”

“I guess…”

Yaz bumped his shoulder again and pulled the napkins from the bag. She nodded over to the steps and the pair moved over to start eating. The Doctor’s excited babbling   
continued in the background.

“Do you know when we are? From their timeline I mean.” Asked Yaz.

“Late 2016 I would say.” Said Ryan pushing his food around with his plastic fork.

“So we know they survive this. They keep going.”

“Yeah.”

“I bet they’re super cool. Maybe you could show me their music sometime?”

Ryan glanced over at her and a slow smile spread over his face.

“Yeah, I can do that.”

Yaz smiled back and finally tuned back into The Doctor’s rambling.

“… and it doesn’t only detect alien DNA it is specially modified to detect psychic energies. Since that’s what brought the TARDIS here I thought it would be our best bet.”

“Wait what?” Graham spoke up. “The TARDIS brought us here? I thought you were just lost.”

He frowned and seemed to hold the TARDIS’s anti-Elvis agenda against it.

“No the TARDIS can detect psychic energy; almost like a phone call.” The Doctor clarified. 

“Although it would have to be pretty powerful to pull us from across space right?” Pondered Ryan.

“It would have to be more than that, Ryan Sinclair, it would need to be enormous.”

Ryan gulped and promptly jumped when the old fashioned ringing of a landline erupted from the TARDIS. They all looked between them in shock before the DOCTOR sprung to action and pulled the screen towards herself to answer the call.

“Doctor? Doctor is that you?” An urgent and breathless voice filled the room suddenly.

“DongHyeon?”

“You have to come quickly. Please you have to come.”

“What’s going on?”

“ChungGuk is locked in his room and there is banging and smashing and he’s on his own. We can’t open the door even the hotel can’t. And he’s all alone in there. We can’t get to him Doctor we can’t-”

“I need you to calm down. Tell me what’s happening.”

The group looked around at each other feeling the tension building as the chaos was carried over the phone.

“He’s alone and someone is in there. Someone got in. What if he’s hurt? What if they hurt him? What if-”

“DongHyeon. You have to calm down I need to know what’s happening.”

They was a rustling as the phone was passed over and more yelling was heard in the background.

“Doctor?”

The calm voice of Manager Lee came over the line.

“Yes I’m here. What’s happening?”

“Someone appears to have gotten into ChungGuk’s room and is attacking him. We are trying to get in but even the hotel master key isn’t working.”

“Keep trying we’re on our way.” The Doctor affirmed before she hung up.

The Doctor began urgently pressing buttons and pulling levers on the console.

“Okay girl. We’re not leaving but I need you to get us there quickly please.”

Nothing happened.

“Come on, come on, come on.” The Doctor begged.

For a moment the TARDIS remained silent before it came to life in all its grating glory and began to dematerialise. Within seconds they had landed outside the hotel and were all running past shocked pedestrians in to the lobby. The Doctor slammed into the reception breathing heavily and flashed her psychic paper.

“Where are FURTHER’s rooms?”

“Right this way please.” The man behind the desk immediately led the way to the elevator and up to the 17th floor.

Once the doors had slid open the group took off down the corridor to where the idols and their manager were gathered watching as SeungEun hammered on the door yelling and looking distraught.

“Out of the way.” Yelled The Doctor squeezing through everyone and kneeling she pulled out her sonic to work on the door but it was jammed.

“How did you-” Began Manager Lee before she thought better and just silently watched The Doctor work.

Frowning The Doctor slammed her palm on the door.

“ChungGuk? ChungGuk can you hear me?” She called.

The noises in the room seemed to increase and the smash of glass could be heard.

“Oh forget this!” SeungEun muscled The Doctor out of the way.

He brought his foot down hard on the door, grunting with exertion. He repeated the action again and again until the door buckled and gave way before he rushed in hurdling the debris.

The room was dark and only illuminated by the lights of the city coming in through the broken balcony doors. It was also completely silent.

“ChungGuk?” SeungEun called, his voice wavering.

For a moment the only noise was the crunch of class underneath shoes as the others entered the room before a groan could be heard. It was a terrifyingly quiet sound after all the commotion that had been heard from outside. SeungEun was around the bed in less than a heartbeat and gathering ChungGuk into his arms.

“I’ve got you baby, I’ve got you.”

ChungGuk groaned again and his eyes rolled back as he tried to clutch as SeungEun.

“Hush, I’ve got you Gukkie.”

“There’s a paramedic waiting outside.” Their Manager said from the doorway.

SeungEun slowly climbed to his feet holding ChungGuk delicately in his arms. It wasn’t gentle enough as ChungGuk let out another groan that turned into a cut off whimper.  
DongHyeon rushed forward to try and help but SeungEun nearly growled.

“I’ve got him.”

“Okay mate. We just want to help.” WooSung soothed pulling DongHyeon away from the pair and clearing the way to the door.

“Come on now.” Manager Lee ushered SeungEun, carrying ChungGuk, out of the room 

“Watch your step.”

The other members quickly followed. Their faces were creased with worry and fear for their leader and they barely spared a glance to the carnage of the room. Someone switched on the lights and the full force of what had happened hit the remaining people like a sledge hammer to the face.

Pictures had been pulled off the walls and shredded. The decorative mirror was shattered; covering the floor mixing with the broken tea set and vase from the table. The bed sheets were ripped and the bedside table overturned. Feathers slowly floated around the room carried by the wind and suggestive of the violence that had suddenly ceased.

Papers rustled in the wind where they lay in piles and the leather armchairs were thrown against one wall that was now covered in dents. The door leading to the ensuite had claw marks etched deep into the wood along with what looked like blood.

It looked like a tornado and ripped the room apart before disappearing into the dark night. The room held an eerie feeling of a recently abandoned war zone. Empty but still filled with the menacing force of all the violence that had just occurred.

“What happened in here?” Whispered Yaz.

“I don’t know.” The Doctor glared around the room. “But I’m sure as hell going to find out.”

Everyone else remained silence, their faces grim as they all wondered the same thing.


	6. Monsters come in many forms

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ding Ding Ding.   
> The action is over an its time for a mop up crew.  
> I hope you enjoy the story as the mystery is still heating up.  
> Any feedback and things you want to leave is amazing.  
> So anyways let's go xxx

The Doctor entered the room down the hall and looked around at the haggard faces of the people gathered there.

The paramedic was finishing packing his bag where he knelt on the floor in front of ChungGuk. The boy in question was looking pale and sweaty where he lay with his head in SeungEun’s lap on the bed. SeungEun was gazing down at ChungGuk’s face with a glazed look in his eye and his hand played with the brown locks of the boy’s hair. Shuren and DongHyeon were hovering on the chairs they had dragged close to the bed; their intense gazes followed every shuddering breath that ChungGuk made. WooSung paced up and down by the balcony doors shooting occasional looks over to their manager who was deep in conversation on the phone before rubbing at his nose and joining the others watching ChungGuk.

“There’s nothing physically wrong with him.” The paramedical announced. “He’ll need some rest and you’ll needed to watch him but I don’t see any evidence of injury.”

“Well thank fuck for that.” DongHyeon let out on an explosive breath.

“Yes thank you so much sir.” Shuren bowed deeply.

The paramedic nodded before quietly leaving the room. Everyone’s attention turned back to ChungGuk.

“What happened?” The Doctor finally asked.

“We all went to get dinner after we left you but ChungGuk was really tired so decided to head back first.” DongHyeon started. 

“We were only 20 minutes behind him.” Whispered SeungEun, his voice filled with guilt and pain, not looking up from ChungGuk’s sleeping face.

DongHyeon smiled sadly and reached a hand out to rub SeungEun’s arm before continuing.

“We were all heading back to our rooms when we heard a shout and the banging started.”

“SeungEun is sharing the room with ChungGuk but his card wouldn’t work so we called the reception and then I told DongHyeon to call you.” Manager Lee had finished her call and joined the conversation.

“How did you get here so quickly anyway?” Accused WooSung from across the room.

“Never mind that.” Manager Lee cut him off. “Just be grateful they got here.”

“It’s not like they did anything.” WooSung turned away and glared out of the glass doors.

Manager Lee sighed and shook her head before turning back to The Doctor.

“That was Detective Wilkins on the phone.”

“What did she say?”

“To stay put and not touch the room. They might get DNA or something.”

The Doctor nodded.

“It’s probably a good idea we all stay together where we can keep an eye on everyone.”

“I shouldn’t have left him alone.” The Manager ran her hand through her hair and set her jaw.

“You couldn’t have known.”

“I should have.” Was all Manager Lee replied before walking over to the bed to begin a quiet conversation with SeungEun.

“Doctor.”

The Doctor turned at the call of her name to see Yaz leaning round the door frame into the room.

“We got everything.”

“Thanks Yaz I’ll be right there.” The Doctor smiled before she followed the Manager over to the group of silent boys.

“I’ll need to speak to him when he wakes up.”

“Of course.” Manager Lee replied. “We’ll come and find you.”

With that The Doctor nodded and heading out of the room to find the others.

Ryan, Yaz and Graham were all standing awkwardly next to the splintered door. Just as silent as the boys The Doctor had just left.

“Come on. Let’s get going.” The Doctor grabbed the detection device from the floor by their feet and stepped into the room.

Entering the room for the second time was no less shocking than the first had been. Everywhere she looked the Doctor saw new damage and signs of violence.

“Christ.” Muttered Graham from where he stood in the door way.

“Hard to belief he survived this.”

“The paramedic said he wasn’t hurt at all.” The Doctor informed them.

“What? But then…” Ryan trailed off.

“Who breaks into a high end hotel, starts destroying a room with someone inside and not hurt them at all?” Graham looked around hopelessly.

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It certainly wouldn’t be the behaviour of a crazy fan or anti-rights activist.” The Doctor agreed.

She hoisted the detection device onto her back and began to carefully tread around the room. The machine rhythmically beeped out a baseline reading but showed no signs of a positive reading.

“What? There must be something.” The Doctor cried exasperated and hit the scanning dish against her hand a few times.

“What’s wrong Doc?” Graham moved over to join her in peering at the devices screen readout.

“Nothing. No alien DNA and not even an elevated psychic energy.”

“That’s strange.” Yaz said as she bent over to look more closely at the cracks in the wooden desk.

“What is?” Asked Ryan.

“Well these look like punches.” She looked up and around at the others. “Like someone was fighting.”

“But ChungGuk didn’t have a scratch on him.” Said The Doctor a frown appearing on her face once again.

“So who was fighting then?” Ryan knelt down next to Yaz making sure to carefully avoid the glass covering the carpet.

“That is the question.” Replied Yaz.

“No. The question is what you all are doing in here.” 

Detective Wilkins’ voice rang out in anger as she stormed into the room.

“This is a crime scene. What are you doing?”

When nobody answered steam appeared to erupt from her ears and her face flushed red.

“Out. Now.”

The four of them filed out of the room and watched a swarm of people in plastic white coveralls entered the room with cameras and cases.

“Now stay out of my way and let me do my job.” Detective Wilkins barked at them before she disappeared into the room after the forensics.

“What now?” Asked Ryan.

“We answer our question.” Replied the Doctor grimly.

The others all nodded as they followed her back down the hallway and into the other room the idols had been using.

Just as they rounded the door they collided with Shuren who blushed and bowed in apology.

“I was… I was just coming… to find you.” He spluttered out in embarrassment. “ChungGuk is awake.”

“Thank you Shuren.” The Doctor smiled.

Shuren stood watching them for a moment before The Doctor gestured for him to step back into the room so they could enter. His face flushed a delicate pink and he rushed away with more mumbled apologies.

“Doctor.” DongHyeon greeted from where he still sat in a chair.

WooSung stalked off to stand by the balcony doors again as far away from the new arrivals as possible while ChungGuk was propped up on the bed by several pillows.

“How are you doing?” The Doctor asked gently.

“He’s okay.” Said SeungEun as he walked over and handed a fresh glass of water to ChungGuk who pulled a face.

“He can also talk for himself you know.”

SeungEun looked sufficiently chastised but still forced the glass into ChungGuk’s hand and perched on the bed.

“But yeah I’m fine.” ChungGuk sighed and talk a few sips of water before cradling the glass in his lap.

“The room is a mess. Can you tell us what happened?” Yaz used an equally gentle voice as she stepped forward.

“I don’t really remember much.” ChungGuk shrugged. “I’d turned off the lights and gone to sleep when I was shoved from the bed onto the floor.”

“Did you see anyone?”

“It was dark and…” ChungGuk trailed off and seemed to shrink in on himself.

“And what Gukkie?” Prompted DongHyeon.

“And they didn’t look… human.” ChungGuk’s voice was so small The Doctor almost didn’t catch the words leaving his lips.

“They?” She asked carefully.

ChungGuk nodded.

“What did they look like?” She held her breath for the reply.

“Like malformed shadows.” ChungGuk shuddered. “Like monsters.”

SeungEun gripped ChungGuk’s shaking hand with his own and intertwined their fingers.

“It’s okay Gukkie. You’re tired and it was dark. You could have seen anything.”

Team TARDIS looked around at each other and realisation dawned on all of their faces.

“ChungGuk, was there anything distinctive you can remember about the shadows?” Yaz questioned.

WooSung immediately stepped forward full of rage and pushed Ryan and Yaz away from the bed. He stood between them and the others; pulling up to his full height to glare at them.

"Are you making fun of ChungGuk?"

"Not at all we just want to get all the details to help with identification."

“What does that matter?” He asked vehemently. “They’re not actual monsters.”

“WooSung-” DongHyeon started to scold but was cut off by Ryan.

“But they are monsters.” He passionately declared. “If they can attack ChungGuk like that then they are.”

WooSung looked stunned at the response before he nodded and backed down to sit on the foot of the bed.

DongHyeon slapped the back of his head in reprimand.

“Apologise to them you idiot.”

“Sorry. I know you’re just trying to help.”

“That’s okay.” Reassured The Doctor. She looked back over at ChungGuk who was watching them all thoughtfully.

“ChungGuk?” She called his attention. “Did you see anything?”

“They were really tall and moved so quickly but…”

The Doctor waited from him to continue.

“But I think there were three of them. Two were attacking the other.”

“They attacked each other?”

“Yeah. The two that were… well it felt like… almost as if they were… protecting me.” ChungGuk stuttered out the words, clearly unsure of why he was even saying them.

“Protecting you?”

“I dunno. I didn’t really see anything.”

“Well it’s still something.”

“And now we know they can get into your rooms.” Muttered Graham gravely which had everyone worried.

“Graham!” The Doctor shouted teasingly. “I’ve told you about the doomsday talk.”

“Sorry Doc.” Graham replied but it had done the trick. The boys let out little chuckles and the tension in the room cleared.

“I’m sure the Detective will want to ask you more questions, so we should probably let you rest.” The Doctor smiled.

The group of boys in front of her were all touching each other in some way for support. They clung to each other and communicated the love and strength they all had to make it through for each other. The scene was touching and gave The Doctor renewed determination to solve the problem for them.

The boys chorused their goodbyes as team TARDIS left the room but they were stopped short by footsteps behind them and a voice calling out. They all turned to see WooSung standing awkwardly in the hall.

“I wanted to thank you. Properly.”

They were shocked by the change of attitude from the boy. He shuffled his feet following the swirling pattern of the carpet with his toe.

“I- Not many people would have listened to him like that. So thank you.”

They all nodded.

“Of course.” Replied The Doctor.

WooSung’s shoulders hunched and he rubbed at his nose as he worked up the courage to speak his mind.

“I just wanted to say that because I trust you to help him.” WooSung looked into each of their eyes imploringly. “Please promise you will help him.”

“We promise.” The Doctor spoke confidently for the group.

“Okay good.” WooSung nodded. “So don’t go before it’s all sorted.”

“We wouldn’t dream of it.” Swore Yaz.

"We Brits have to stick together right?" WooSung smiled in relief.

"You're English?" Graham asked in shock.

"Yeah born and bred in Doncaster."

"No way that's down the road from our home turf Sheffield." Exclaimed Yaz in excitement.

"Well I guess I can forgive you for that this one time." WooSung laughed lighted and smiles happily around at the others for the first time.

WooSung nodded again, deep in thought, before he wished them a goodnight and headed back into the room to see the other members. Everyone stood motionless for a moment while the pleas of the boy settled on their shoulders.

“I can’t imagine how scared they must be.” Sighed Yaz.

“I can.” Muttered Graham. “With all that we’ve done I think I know quite-”

Graham cut himself off after receiving matching glares from the three others in the hall.

“Little about how they must be feeling.” He finished weakly.

The Doctor patted his back before heading down the hall towards the elevator.

“Come on team, we need a game plan for the morning and it’s not going to make itself.” She called over her shoulder and they slowly all trailed after her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We stan a northern boy. I hope you are all as besotted by a good Yorkshire accent as I am.


	7. The world is a stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've nearly reached the weekend folks. Lets keep going!  
> This chapter has a few bad word. tee-hee. But like really minimal.  
> As always any feedback is appreciated and please leave some love.  
> I hope you enjoy xxx

The next day rolled around after a long night of unfruitful scheming and planning leaving the team feeling restless and frustrated.

They met the boys in the reception of the venue and were greeted with enthusiastic smiles despite the eventful night they had all experienced. DongHyeon led the way to the dressing room complaining loudly about how hungry he was the entire journey.

“I tell you” Hummed DongHyeon as he plopped onto one of the sofas eating a fresh peach. “Nothing beats buffet breakfast on tour.”

The other boys groaned in agreement as they stuffed their own faces with fresh fruit and pastries.

“Feel free to help yourselves.” Offered Manager Lee before she was walking out of the room to being her missions for the day.

Team TARDIS gathered bowls of the fruit salad for themselves and sat down on the sofas as well; enjoying the happy atmosphere.

“So what’s on the cards for today?” Asked Ryan looking eagerly at the team of make up noona’s and stylists that were slowly arriving.

“We’ve got to run through ChungGuk’s solo stage due to the changed choreography and then we’ll do a run of the entire show.” Explained WooSung between mouthfuls of crumpets and butter.

“That sounds like a lot of work.” Exclaimed Yaz, her eyes widening.

“Yeah.” Shrugged SeungEun “But it’s worth it for the fans.”

“Nothing equals the feeling of them chanting your name and singing our songs.” Sighed DongHyeon.

“I can imagine.” Said Ryan dreamily.

“Would you like to have a go?”

“Would I what?” Ryan reeled back in shock.

“Join us? We have everything down so it’s just to get used to the space.”

“I couldn’t possibly-”

“What Ryan means is that he would love to.” Interrupted The Doctor.

Ryan’s mouth gaped helplessly as he looked back and forth between his friends and his idols.

“Yes, I’d love to.” He repeated hollowly.

“Good.” DongHyeon laughed and reached for his plate of French toast.

“You boys defiantly eat a lot.” Marvelled Graham. “Your poor parents.”

SeungEun was about to reply when something behind the sofas caught his eye and he frowned.

“ChungGuk-a? Are you alright.”

Everyone turned to stare at the boy who was glaring at a pile of croissants and clenching his fists.

“Fine Hyung.” He bit out, not looking around.

“Are you sure?” SeungEun stood up and walked over to him.

“I said I was fine.”

“I know you did.” SeungEun sighed. “I worry. Let me help.”

ChungGuk continued to glare at the buffet table and clenched his jaw but remained silent. Taking that as his cue SeungEun began to create a plate for ChungGuk. The others in the room turned back around to give the pair some privacy to sort everything out.

“So how was everything last night after we left?” Asked Yaz.

“Uneventful thank goodness.” Confessed DongHyeon.

“The Detective came and asked questioned like you said.” WooSung added. “She was convinced ChungGuk was in shock and seeing things.”

“It was hard seeming him doubt himself like that.” DongHyeon pulled Shuren into his side for a half hug. “She wouldn’t even give him the time of day.”

“People believe what they want to believe.” The Doctor reasoned.

“Doesn’t mean it isn’t true.” Muttered WooSung.

“We’ll get to the bottom of this.” Reassured Yaz.

The group fell into thoughtful silence after that as they contemplated the future and how the situation could be solved.

Suddenly a shout and loud crash of a plate shattering rang out in the room.

“I said I didn’t like it so why did you give it to me?” ChungGuk yelled as his face turned red with anger and he heaved in shuddering breathes.

Everyone’s heads whipped round to the source of the shout. SeungEun stood with his empty hands still raised while food and china covered the ground around them.

“Guk-a hash browns are you favourites… I just thought that…”

“Well you thought wrong. They’re not my favourites at all.” Sneered ChungGuk crossing his arms and glaring up at SeungEun.

“Count down from ten for me and take some deep breathes okay.” SeungEun spoke calmly and ignored everyone else in the room.

“Don’t tell me what to do!” ChungGuk exploded and shoved SeungEun away.

“You’re behaving like a child. You need to calm down.”

“I am calm. It’s you that’s not listening.”

“I’m listening to you. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“Get out of my business.”

SeungEun stepped forward and tried to grab ChungGuk’s arm but ChungGuk wrenched himself away and the move only fuelled his aggression.

“Don’t touch me!”

“Okay, okay.” SeungEun put his palms up in a placating manner. “Just tell me what’s wrong.”

“Everything. Everything’s fucking wrong.”

The rest of the people in the room remained frozen and watched on in shock. The usually calm and balanced leader’s behaviour was so out of sorts that nobody knew how to react. The Doctor made a move to intervene by DongHyeon stopped her with a shake of his head.

“SeungEun can deal with this.” He whispered keeping his eye on the pair in the middle of the room.

The Doctor nodded and turned back as well. ChungGuk was hugging his waist and seemingly beginning to calm down.

“Everything… everything’s… it’s all just…” ChungGuk looked up with tears threatening to escape his eyes. “I’m sorry Hyung… I don’t know what…”

SeungEun only smiled and wrapped ChungGuk up in his arms.

“It’s okay Gukkie. You’re going through a lot.” He rested his chin on ChungGuk’s hair and breathed deeply as the boy in his arms followed his rhythm to calm down fully.

“Sit down and I’ll grab you a plate okay.”

ChungGuk nodded and shuffled to one of the vacant sofas where Shuren immediately pounced on his bandmate for cuddles. ChungGuk sank into the embrace and all of the tension released from his body as a shameful expression grew on his face.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered.

Yaz shook her head and set her plate aside.

“You’ve been through a lot. It’s normal.”

“Still it doesn’t feel good to lose control.”

The others all nodded in sympathy and continued to eat as the activity in the room returned to the bustle it had been before ChungGuk’s outburst.

Once they were all finished the boys got called for costumes and mics. Team TARDIS watched the transformation from sweat pants and hoodies to the tight dress pants and smooth leather jackets with chains and spikes decoration the members. Each of the members’ jacket was either a light pink, blue or white to match the album’s concept. When one of the boys turned around they saw the band’s name embossed across the shoulders and ribbons of the same three colours hang down the back.

“No way.” Breathed Ryan from where they all sat observing.

“What?” Asked Yaz quickly but her fears that something was wrong were quickly belayed when she saw the look of admiration in his eyes.

“This is their first tour for their debut album.” The stars in Ryan’s eyes seemed to get bigger as ChungGuk tied a rainbow bandana around his head.

“They raised around three million pounds for various LGBT charities in all of the cities they visited.”

The others all turned back to look at the boys with a new light. The selfless giving and unwavering support for what was right, even though it was unpopular, was inspiring. DongHyeon strode over holding another jacket.

“You ready Ryan?” He asked offering the jacket.

“I-I… can I really?” He sat in awe as he lightly stroked the jacket in his lap.

“Of course. If you’re practicing with us you can at least look the part.” DongHyeon laughed and pulled Ryan up to slip the jacket on.

“Good it fits.”

“Wow Ryan you look great!” Called WooSung from where he was inspecting himself in a mirror.

“It’s SeungEun’s spare jacket.” DongHyeon told them all as they sat in shocked silence. “I’m glad it fits.”

“Thank you.” Ryan said earnestly.

“No problem.” Assured DongHyeon. “Now let’s go.”

They all followed DongHyeon and WooSung out onto the main stage and then down into the standing area to watch ChungGuk perform.

The boy seemed nervous at first as the tech team set up the lights and underwent a mic check.

“He writes most of our stuff.” DongHyeon told the others.

“Pretty decent at it.” WooSung agreed.

“Shut up you. He taught you everything you know.” SeungEun laughed as he joined them.

“Can’t teach talent.”

Everyone laughed at the teasing before DongHyeon turned back to the others.

“He usually raps but when he sings… it’s something else.”

“He means a lot to you.” The Doctor said slowly.

DongHyeon nodded in conformation and looked over to the stage where ChungGuk was still preparing.

“We owe him everything.”

The love and depth of respect in his voice took The Doctor’s breath away.

“He must be a very special young man.”

DongHyeon sent a watery smile her way before turning to watch the performance.

As the first notes of a soft melody played out in the venue Ryan gasped and leaned in to whisper through the sudden silence as the introduction played.

“It’s his song ‘My own man’. He won about seven award for it after the tour.”

The stillness that filled the large hall was a testament to how mesmerising the song was. ChungGuk’s clear and breathy voice spoke of his struggle to prove himself as a man. His begging to be respected because he had earned the right to be himself and not been simply born with it brought tears to the groups eyes.

The slow and simple backing track complimented the emotional lyrics perfectly and seemed to express the music’s own longing to be loved and listened to. When the track ended a void seemed to swallow the venue and nobody dared to move until ChungGuk put his hand up to his eyes to squint through the bright lights.

“Are you all still here?” He called.

The members sprang into action and sprinted up the stage to bear bug him and shower him in compliments. 

“Well it’s no BigBang but it will do.” Laughed ChungGuk when the members finally detached from him.

“Sure Gukkie. Whatever you need to tell yourself.” Laughed WooSung.

“Now don’t we have a special guest?” Asked ChungGuk looking out into the audience again.

DongHyeon held his mic to his face and put on a deep voice.

“Calling Ryan to the stage. This is first call for Ryan Sinclair to come to main stage.”

Ryan shivered in excitement before he jogged up the stage steps only tripping once before he was on stage with his idols. The rest of the group enjoyed the morning watching the boys teach Ryan the moves to their songs and running the numbers. Ryan mostly ended up on his butt watching FURTHER perform with his mouth hanging open but it was a good laugh.

While they stood there watching Detective Wilkins made her way over cautiously.

“Doctor.”

“Detective.” The two nodded in greeting.

“I just wanted to let you know we got nothing conclusive from the hotel.”

“It was a state in there.” Yaz concluded with a sympathetic smile.

Wilkins sighed and ran her hand through her messy hair.

“I also wanted to apologise for my behaviour yesterday.”

“That’s alright. I imagine you are under a lot of stress.” The Doctor smiled warmly.

“The truth is I was only chosen for this because I can speak Korean. I wanted to prove myself.” The Detective’s shoulders slumped under the shame and stress of the last few days.

“I understand but we are here to help.” 

“I know that now Doctor. Anything you can do to help would be welcome.”

They made small talk for a few more minutes before Wilkins excused herself to find Manager Lee and update her as well.

A few hours later when the boys broke for lunch Ryan came bouncing down the stair to greet the others with a wide smile.

“This is literally the best thing that has ever happened to me.” He exclaimed dreamily and took the water that Yaz offered to him.

“I can think of worse ways to spend a morning.” Laughed Graham.

“It was cool to see you fall on your arse I guess.” Added Yaz with a cheeky shove to Ryan making him spill his water.

“You’re just jealous.” 

“Oh yes so jealous I just had to film you drawling all over the stage as you watched them body roll.”

Ryan’s eyes went wide and he lunged for Yaz’s phone but she darted out of the way before he could reach. The Doctor watched the pair race around the floor with amusement before a shout reached her from the stage.

Shuren was running towards them like his trousers were on fire.

“Doctor you have to come quickly.”

“What happened?”

“It’s ChungGuk. He said it was the things from last night.”

“Here?”

“Yes come on.”

They all sprinted after Shuren towards the back stage area. The joy of earlier had vanished and The Doctor felt a stone settle in her gut. No more wasting time. They needed to get to the bottom of this before ChungGuk actually got hurt, if he wasn’t already.

Her heart raced and she pushed herself to run down the winding corridors even faster.

Please let him be okay.


	8. Light at the end of the tunnel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gotta get that boom boom boom. gotta get that!  
> We back bois. Out here LIVING.  
> So I nearly deleted this chapter and rewrote it loads but like... its here now.  
> Gold medal for attendance.  
> Feedback is appreciated and leave your love.  
> Anyways I hope you enjoy xxx

Bursting into the room the team were met with a wall of bodies surrounding the sofas. The Doctor followed Shuren into the crowd and pushed her way through. ChungGuk was lying on the sofa sitting between DongHyeon’s legs with his back to the older boys chest while SeungEun knelt by his side clasping his hand. ChungGuk was unbelievably pale, even paler than he had been the night before.

The venue medical team were also fussing about the boys with fans and an I.V line was visible in the back of his hand. Manager Lee was standing at the food of the sofa with Detective Wilkins and a stylist but once she saw the Doctor she made her way over.

“Everyone who isn’t necessary here clear out now.” She barked to the gathered staff.

Once everyone was gone the temperature in the room dropped and The Doctor could draw in a deep breath again.

“What happened?”

“One of the stylists found ChungGuk passed out on the floor.” The manager nodded to the small woman beside her.

“Was anyone else here when you arrived?” Yaz asked.

“Not that I could see.” The soft spoken woman informed her.

“Okay thank you.”

The woman bowed before she hurried out on shaky legs.

“Could she have-?” Ryan began to question but Manager Lee shook her head.

“She’s been with us for the entire tour and she came with great recommendations from another group.”

Ryan nodded and they all turned to where the onsite medical staff were still working quietly.

“Have you found anything?” Detective Wilkins asked.

A female medic turned towards them while her colleague continued to take ChungGuk’s blood pressure. She handed off the electric fan to SeungEun before coming closer.

“We can’t find anything to suggest why he’s having periods of unconsciousness. Not externally anyway.”

“Do you have any thoughts on what it might be?” Yaz glanced quickly at the boy. There was no doubt in her mind that something was seriously wrong with him.

“I would suggest stress and low blood sugar maybe.”

“But you can’t know for certain?” The Detective interrogated taking out her notebook.

“Not here. I would suggest a visit to the hospital as soon as possible.”

“Of course.” Manager Lee thanked the medics as they packed up and left with strict instructions for ChungGuk to rest.

“What about the performance tonight?” DongHyeon asked in worry.

“I can perform.” ChungGuk moved to sit himself up but was stopped by the glare his manager sent his way.

“We’ll sort something out so don’t worry.”

“I feel better already.” ChungGuk argued.

“Yeah because healthy people need needles in their arms ChungGuk.” WooSung scolded.

ChungGuk looked guilty and began to play with his shirt. His leather jacket had been discarded on the back of the sofa.

“I don’t want to let the fans down.” He whispered.

“You won’t. They would want you to be healthy and get better.” Their manager shook her head and sank into one of the other sofas.

“Do you remember anything before you passed out?” Yaz asked gently.

“The others went to lunch and I ran here to grab my phone first.” ChungGuk recounted.

“Then my head hurt like crazy and there was…”

“There was what?” Detective Wilkins jumped on a possible lead.

“There was someone over there.” ChungGuk pointed a shaky arm at a storage cupboard at the other side of the room.

“Over here?” The Doctor moved over to the cupboard at ChungGuk’s nod and found the door swung open easily.

“Oh you have got to see this.” She said in excitement.

The others all rushed over to squint into the dark cupboard. Instead of a cramped space of dusty supplied there was a ladder that lead into the ground and out of sight.

“Shit.” Exhaled WooSung.

“How were we not aware this was here?” Detective Wilkins wondered out loud.

“ChungGuk who did you say you saw here?” The Doctor asked casually as she inspected the ladder.

“I didn’t see anyone. It was more like a presence.”

The Doctor turned around in her crouch to look over at the boy thoughtfully. He was sitting up slightly and straining to get a look at what everyone had found.

“Like before?”

ChungGuk nodded and sunk back into DongHyeon.

“Ryan go and get the detector, please.”

“Right away.” Ryan stood up and ran out of the room.

“We need to see what’s down there.” The Doctor turned her attention to the Detective who was shining her torch down into the hole.

“I agree.”

“I want to come too.” WooSung spoke up.

“Absolutely not.” Manager Lee snapped. “ChungGuk is already compromised I’m not letting you get hurt too.”

“But I want to-”

“We aren’t discussing this WooSung.”

“Your manager is right. You should all rest before the show tonight.” Graham added when it looked like the boy would protest.

The boys looked between themselves in worry and frustration. WooSung nodded reluctantly and moved back over to the sofas.

“You’re going to find them right?” ChungGuk questioned lightly once he was settled.

“Of course. They won’t get back through here.” The Doctor reassured.

ChungGuk didn’t look at all convinced and his hands were quite obviously shaking. Graham made a sound of realisation and started patting all his pockets as he searched for something. Grinning in satisfaction as he found the object and put it behind his back; walking over to ChungGuk.

“I have something that will protect you from them.” He said conspiratorially.

ChungGuk looked up at him in confusion but nodded for him to continue. Graham pulled the sunglasses from behind him and offered them to ChungGuk. ChungGuk took them cautiously and turned them over in his hands.

“Sunglasses?”

“Yeah they will stop you from seeing the shadows.” Graham smiled and ChungGuk slipped them over his eyes.

“But they have the added benefit of making you look unbelievably cool.”

SeungEun chuckled as ChungGuk craned his neck to see his reflection in the makeup mirror across the room.

“Looks good Gukkie.” He teased.

“Very swish.” Graham added seriously which had the rest of the room laughing.

ChungGuk nodded in satisfaction and pulled the glasses down his nose to peer at them all over the black lens. He wiggled his eyebrows at SeungEun and the moved pulled even more laughter from everyone.

“What’s everyone laughing about?” Ryan looked around at them all as he returned to the room.

He passed the detector off to The Doctor and looked around suspiciously. Upon spotting ChungGuk’s new accessory he smiled brightly

“Looks good.”

The Doctor began scanning the room with the detector starting with the cupboard.

“How is there nothing?” She asked in disbelief.

“What is that?” Detective Wilkins looked over The Doctor’s shoulder at the display.

“Top Secret.” Explained Yaz at the same time as the Doctor muttered “Useless.”

The Detective looked confused but stepped back to watch the Doctor move onto the rest of the room. The device maintained its steady beeping throughout the search. The Doctor huffed and gave up.

As she moved back towards the others she passed by the sofas and the device suddenly blared to life. The high pitched whistle jolting everyone to attention.

“What did you find?” Ryan asked.

The Doctor shook her head and stepped backwards until the machine was screeching. She waved the dish over where ChungGuk lay and it got impossibly louder.

“How is that possible Doc.?” Graham stepped forward in concern.

“I don’t know.” The Doctor muttered finally shutting off the machine.

“Wait what does that mean?” SeungEun was wide eyed where he still knelt on the floor.

“Nothing. It’s probably broken.”

“Check again.” SeungEun urged.

The Doctor sighed repositioned the device. When she switched in back on there was only the steady beeping once again.

“See. Nothing at all.” The Doctor forced a smile.

It was clear that nobody believed her but SeungEun backed down and accepted the explanation.

“We should check out where the ladder goes.” Ryan sighed at Yaz’s suggestion.

“Why is it always a ladder?”

They gathered around the cupboard and looked into the darkness that obscured the bottom.

“Do you think they’re still down there Doc?” Graham asked.

“Only one way to fine out.” The Doctor smiled and stepped towards the ladder only to be stopped by the Detective’s hand on her shoulder.

“I’ll go first.” The Detective’s face was grim as she pulled her gun from her hip holster. The Doctor frowned.

“I really don’t feel comfortable with you holding that.”

The Detective sneered over her shoulder.

“This is the USA. I’m bringing the gun.”

Before the Doctor could protest further the detective climbed onto the ladder and descended into the darkness.

“All clear.” Run out from far below them.

“I don’t like this.” The Doctor muttered before following the detective down.

The others exchanged knowing looks before Yaz also climbed down the ladder. Graham gestured for Ryan to follow after.

“After you son.”

“I hate ladders.”

“Are you sure we can’t help?” WooSung made one last ditch attempt.

“We’ve got it covered.” Graham smiled at them.

While Ryan hesitantly made his way down into the pit Manager Lee herded the boys out of the room to rest.

“Good luck.” She said with a weak smile before following them all out of the door.

After receiving the all clear Graham climbed down to join the others. The passage he climbed into was musty and slightly warm. The only light came from the entrance above them and Wilkins’ torch that illuminated their feet. The walls were old red brick and slightly crumbling leaving the entire passage swamped in a muffled silence broken by their breathing that seemed to echo.

“It’s probably an old short cut or escape.” Wilkins explained letting her torch beam run over the walls slowly.

“Probably.” The Doctor replied.

She hoisted the detection device further onto her shoulders and turned it. The beeping filled the space.

“Is that really needed?” The detective grunted in annoyance.

“Yes.” The Doctor brushed past her and began moving down the passage. They all walked for a long time with only the monotonous beeps to assure them time was still passing in the gloomy place.

The underground passage had no doors along the walls and no off shoots so they silently followed the dusty floor until they reached another ladder. Scaling the ladder back up into the light they found themselves in another cupboard. The Doctor pushed the door open and recognised the concert venue halls they had started out in. They were in a part they hasn’t been to before but it couldn’t have been too far away.

“How is that possible?” Ryan breathed “It felt like we walked forever.”

“They could be anywhere by now.” Yaz grumbled.

“I don’t think so.” The Detective brushed off her boots and trousers where she stood leaning against the wall.

“Why do you say that?” Yaz asked her hope returning.

“The floor in there was covered in dust.”

“Yeah I noticed.” Graham coughed.

The detective rolled her eyes and continued as if he hadn’t said anything.

“Well then why weren’t their foot prints other than ours?”

The others shifted uncomfortably. They couldn’t just blurt out the existence of aliens to this woman. The detective took their silence as acceptance and she continued.

“Either the kid didn’t really see anything and he’s just sick,”

“Or?” Yaz felt the hope slowly slip away being replaced with a dread at what conclusion the detective had drawn.

“Or he’s lying.”

“He’s not lying.” Ryan stated forcefully.

“They are the only explanations.” Wilkins argued.

“We’re just not looking hard enough.” Said Graham trying to reassuring himself.

“You are welcome to waste your time here but I have things to do.” 

The detective spun on her heel and strode down the corridor.

“You don’t think she’s right do you?” Yaz whispered. “Not about him lying but… do you think he could be sick?”

The Doctor sighed and rubbed her face.

“He might be.”

“But what about the machine?” Ryan reminded them desperately.

“We have to face facts Ryan we haven’t found anything to say otherwise.”

The Doctor turned and slowly followed the detective away from the passage in defeat.


	9. A hidden disease

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so tired ALL the time man!!!!! I mean DAMN.  
> Writing is becoming such a therapy now :(  
> Luckily I have the new TXT album to enjoy forever and ever. I must admit I wasn't amazed when I first heard them but after listening a few times I really think I have some new favourites. Crown and Cat & Dog are soooooooo good. Check those boys out fam!!!!  
> Anyways I really hope you are still enjoying the uploads. I have a few deadlines coming up so there may be a teeny weeny break soon but no more than a week, I promise.  
> As always feedback is always desired .  
> PLease enjoy xxxx

“Ryan can you at least pretend to pay attention.”

“Sorry Yaz.” Ryan muttered but didn’t even look away from the stage monitor showing the boys performing.

Yaz tutted and sat back in her chair. They could all hear the bass of the high tempo music coming from the stage area. The boys had been on stage for thirty minutes but none of the group, excluding Ryan, could enjoy the performance after what they had found that afternoon.

“Something didn’t feel right down there.” The Doctor scrubbed her face in annoyance.

“Yeah. It was a creepy old tunnel.” Graham snorted.

“I’m missing something.”

“It doesn’t always have to be aliens Doctor. It could be as simple as mental illness.” Yaz shook her head.

“There had to be something.”

“Doc seriously it seems like a high stress job. It’s probably just too much for him.” Graham tried to argue.

“I feel like I’ve seen it before. I just need to work out where.”

“Doc you are going to drive yourself crazy thinking like that.”

“I can’t help it Graham. Every second I don’t solve this I am letting them all down.”

Ryan started making flapping motions with his arms and hushed them all.

“This is the killing part. ChungGuk is a machine.”

They all turned their attention to the screen. ChungGuk was isolated onstage by a large spotlight and the music had turned slower, more sensual, but just as heavy. The ribboned leather jacket had given way for a flowing shirt of sheer material. It showed off his slim figure and lean muscles but added some mystery where the shadows created jagged edges.

The breath stopped in their lungs as they watched the sharp movements that seemed to portray a great struggle and perfectly showed of the lean boy’s figure. The precise steps and sweeping arms flowed into each other like a story as ChungGuk kept absolute control over every twitch. After a twisting leap in the air the boy's shirt fell open revealing his chest and abs. The scars that cut across his chest in two horizontal sweeps were all the more beautiful in the face of the respect they had for the man.

“Maybe he’s the alien. I’ve never seen someone move like that.” Graham gasped.

“He’s like a fairy tale prince.” Yaz added.

The song ended and the applause swallowed the stadium as fans screamed and chanted. The lighting changed as the rest of the boys joined ChungGuk and got into position for the next number. SeungEun gave ChungGuk a tight hug and whisper in his ear earning a large smile. SeungEun gently tugged the shirt closed and did up the buttons seeming to linger with his hands caressing ChungGuk.

“How can we give up on them?” Asked the Doctor.

“We did promise.” Yaz remembered.

Ryan let out excited hoots as the next song started and the boys sprung around the stage in various formations and sent love out to the fans.

“This is the best day of my life.” The others all laughed at how excited he was.

They all settled to watch FURTHER’s performance and enjoyed the amazing spectacle that was put on. The boys completely changed on stage. Becoming confident and dangerous one moment and then changing to cute and playful as a new song began.

It was nearing the end of the concert when The Doctor noticed ChungGuk stumble and clutch his head. He shook himself off and continued on but his face was drawn tight in pain.

“Somethings wrong with ChungGuk.”

The others looked over to her with questioning gazes and she pointed to the screen where ChungGuk was swaying.

“God he looks terrible.” Yaz gasped.

The boys executed a move where they slid across the floor but when the other members returned to their feet ChungGuk remained hunched over on the floor.

“He needs help now.”

WooSung and DongHyeon had noticed ChungGuk on the floor and moved over to him kneeling down to talk to him. They watched as ChungGuk nodded and pointed off into the audience before he slumped against them.

WooSung hoisted his limb body into his arms and rushed off the stage. The other members looked back with concern but managed to continue the performance. As WooSung disappeared from the stage The Doctor stood and gestured for them to all follow her. She headed to the wings to follow the medical team as they moved ChungGuk to a back room. They got cold towels and stripped his outer layers off; the room was air conditioned and almost cold.

“Sorry can you move back we need space to work.” One of the medics pushed everyone from the room.

Yaz spotted WooSung hovering by the door way and made her way over.

“What happened?”

WooSung shook his head and gulped before glancing over to ChungGuk.

“WooSung.” Yaz said sharply to snap him out of it.

“Come on son. He’s in the best hands possible now.” Graham coxed him to move further away with them.

“Sorry. Sorry. It’s just…..”

“It’s okay. Just take it slow.”

“He just folded man. I looked over and…. Fuck.” He stepped back and put both hands on his head; pulling at his hair.

“Just calm down. Did he say anything?” Yaz asked.

“He… he said it was the presence again.” WooSung rubbed at his nose before glancing back at ChungGuk.

They could hear as the music stopped and the other members began addressing the crowd. Asking them not to worry and that ChungGuk was being seen too.

“Listen to your members.” The Doctor told WooSung.

“I should get back on stage.” WooSung said absence mindedly.

“Do you think you could get us to the wings?” The Doctor asked quickly.

WooSung looked confused but nodded. He gestured for them to follow him. When they arrived WooSung waved goodbye and returned to the stage. He took the microphone and began to reassure the fans that ChungGuk had felt dizzy but was being seen to. The Doctor grabbed the detector from Ryan and scanned the stage area.

“Nothing.” She gritted out in frustration after a full sweep.

“It was a long shot.” Yaz patted her arm.

“Where have I seen this before?” The Doctor began pacing up and down much to the annoyance of the stage managers.

They decided to head back to where ChungGuk was and see if they could help there. Once they arrived they saw the Detective and Manager Lee talking with the medics. The manager saw the group and waved them over with a grim look.

“The medics had to sedate ChungGuk.” The manager began.

“What’s wrong with him?” Ryan asked desperately.

“He became agitated and started shouting that they were there and wanted to take him away.” The medic informed them.

“No kidding.” Graham said in disbelief.

“We will be taking him into our care and see to it that he recovers fully.” The medic bowed and returned to the his partner seeing to ChungGuk.

“It’s never nice to see another young person fall into mental illness but at least we can finally put this behind us.” Detective Wilkins nodded sagely.

“You wanted this from the start.” The Doctor accused.

“No matter what I wanted. The medical professionals have diagnosed him.” The detective replied with a raised eyebrow.

“What about the hotel room then?” Yaz asked.

“He could have easily done it all in a dissociative state.”

“We both know that’s not what happened.”

“It’s what the evidence says. I’ll need to speak to him when he wakes up but that’s the end of it.” Wilkins strode away from them pulling her phone out as she went.

“You can’t possibly believe that.” Yaz turned to the manager but stopped short at the look on her face.

“I don’t know what to believe but I have to get him help.” Manager Lee said, resigned.

“You know there’s something going on. Please.” The Doctor begged.

“I’m sorry.”

They watched the woman walk away to check back in the room where ChungGuk had been covered in blankets and other medics still took samples.

“Doctor… maybe…”

“No.” The Doctor interrupted Graham and set her jaw.

“Mental illness is just a fact of human life. It’s not an impossibility.” Yaz stated.

“I…. I promised.”

“You can’t help fight this Doc. The medics in there and his members will be what he needs now.” Graham smiled sadly.

“Telling him about aliens will only consolidate the hallucination.” Yaz continued.

The Doctor sighed and blinked up at the ceiling to stem the tears.

“Okay. We’ll go.”

“You’re leaving?” Came a voice from behind them.

They all turned to see the rest of the members standing there with wide eyes.

“You can’t leave.” SeungEun stepped forward with a frown.

“ChungGuk needs you.” WooSung added.

“There’s nothing we can do. ChungGuk needs medical help.” The Doctor told them.

“No. He needs you to find these things and stop them.”

“There’s nothing to find. It’s in his head.”

“That’s bullshit! You saw how he was at the hotel. You saw the room. Did that come from his head too?”

“The medical staff are trained to see-”

“I can’t believe this.” WooSung threw his hands in the air in frustration.

“He needs help. He’s stressed and vulnerable right now. That’s all this is.”

“You know it’s not. You know.”

The repetition of The Doctor’s very words being thrown back at her were heart breaking. She clenched her jaw to stop herself agreeing.

“We have to go.”

“How can you just give up on him?” WooSung yelled.

“WooSung. That’s enough.” DongHyeon bit out.

“Hyung! I can’t… they can’t…”

“This isn’t helping. ChungGuk needs us to support him. So we do.”

The other members bowed to the group and thanked them for their help before they walked away to get closer to ChungGuk. The looked exhausted and desolate standing with slumped shoulders; tightly clutching at each other.

“Please.” WooSung begged them but they shook their heads and couldn't meet his eye.

WooSung let out a deep exhale and nodded to himself. His gaze showed the anger and betrayal he felt before he turned and joined the rest of his members.

“Can we really just leave like this?” Yaz whispered.

“It’s what’s best for him.” The Doctor sighed.

They slowly turned and headed back to the TARDIS but a hollow feeling followed them back. They all stood frozen at the door waiting for something, anything, to call them back. The Doctor looked back at them before finally pushing open the door and entering.

“Come on. We had a place to be before all of this.” She put on a chipper voice and headed up to the console.

“You want to go to an Elvis concert right now?” Graham grimaced.

“Come on Graham get your sunglasses on and get ready for the King.”

“I think ChungGuk still has them.”

“Oh…” The Doctor replies quietly.

“Not to worry.”

The Doctor sighed and started tapping on the TARDIS screen before throwing a few levers but nothing happened. She tried moving the lever back and forth but the TARDIS refused to respond.

“Must be something wrong. We might be stuck here for a while gang while I run repairs.”

“If we’re staying I’ll go and get the sunglasses.” Ryan said before he ran out the door.

“Ryan!”

“Let him go Doc.” Graham said. “He just wants to see his idols again. Say goodbye.”

Sighing again The Doctor nodded and crouched down to have a look at the wiring under the panel. Seeing nothing amiss she turned and headed down metal steps into the inner workings of the TARDIS.

“Do you think we missed something?” Yaz asked from where she sat on one of the steps; doubt clear in her voice.

“We can’t know Yaz. We just have to hope ChungGuk has the right help now.”

“I’m sure he will be fine.” Graham added.

“Yeah fine.” Yaz said glumly.

A loud ringing cut through the TARDIS and the three all froze.

“Is that the…” Graham began.

“The phone.” The Doctor yelled and ran up the stairs.

“Quick answer it. Answer it.” Yaz urged.

The Doctor reached the screen and tapped violently to answer the call.

“Doctor.”

“Manager Lee?”

“I’m sorry I should have listened to you.” The woman cried down the phone.

“What’s going on? Tell me what’s happening.”

“It’s ChungGuk. He went into some kind of seizure…”

“Are the medical staff still with you.”

“They are but… Doctor he’s…”

“What is it?” The Doctor felt desperation and worry filter into her voice.

“He’s glowing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't really sure how to write the dance scene... When the idols do it in solo performances and as groups its all so overwhelming and sharp. I don't think i fully portrayed that but just know that in m head ChungGuk was going off on one :)  
> Thanks for reading. Have a good day now.


	10. Don't cross mum and dad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else just sit in bed for days on end and feel smol while eating budget chocolate spread? I hope someone does because I'm living rn!  
> We stan a health queen.  
> Anyways we are getting close to the end now people. I'm pretty excited and I hope the ending doesn't feel to rushed to you.  
> Please leave any comments or kudos. I love the feedback.  
> Enjoy xxx

For the second time that day team TARDIS found themselves running towards to back stage area of the stadium with fear tight in their throats.

“We should never have left.” The Doctor gritted out as they sprinted down the halls.

Skidding around the corner and into the room they spotted ChungGuk straightaway and it brought them all up short.

He was still lying on the floor of the little side room where they has last seen him only now there was a blinding and pulsating golden light emitting from the boys entire body.

“That’s not caused by mental illness Doc.” Graham said in disbelief as he stared at the sight.

“Definitely not.” The Doctor continued striding across the space to kneel down beside ChungGuk.

Ryan was standing with the band members and their manager trying to calm them down. The other boys looked terrified and Shuren was crying at the sight of ChungGuk shaking violently; in evident pain.

“Please Doctor, you have to help him.” SeungEun said as his chin wobbled from emotion.

“I’m going to do everything I can.” The Doctor reassured him.

She turned back to the jerking body and pulled out her sonic to scan the young man up and down.

“What are you?” She muttered under her breath.

“Doctor, do you need the detector?”

“Yes. Can you run and get it Ryan?”

“Of course.” Ryan sprinted from the room to grab the device. 

The Doctor turned back to her scanning and noticed a spike in energy near ChungGuk’s head. Shifting closer she changed the setting and scanned again. ChungGuk began to jerk more violently and The Doctor pulled away hurriedly.

“What are you doing to him?” DongHyeon cried. The Doctor ignored him and moved back to open ChungGuk’s eyes.

His eyes were completely white where they had rolled back in his head and The Doctor let his lids closed over them lifelessly.

“I’m sorry. Just bear with me a little.” The Doctor whispered.

She turned the sonic back on and scanned around his head again but the shaking became too much.

“I need you to hold him down for me.” The Doctor turned to the boys.

“You’re hurting him.” SeungEun ground out from where he was being held back by the others.

“He needs my help but I can’t help until I know what’s wrong.” The Doctor stated calmly.

“Okay. Where do you need me?” WooSung said gravely.

The Doctor indicated to ChungGuk’s shoulders and WooSung positioned himself to pin his body down.

“Ready?” The Doctor asked.

“Ready.” WooSung nodded.

The Doctor resumed scanning and tried to ignore the sounds of pain that ChungGuk had begun to make as well as the soft crying coming from WooSung beside her. Finally she stopped her ministrations as she realised she couldn’t get anything more using the sonic.

“Forgive me Gukkie.” WooSung whispered as he continued to cry and stroked the gasping boy’s face.

“So what’s wrong with him?” DongHyeon asked in a clipped tone as he held a sobbing Shuren to his chest.

“I can’t know for certain right now. I need the-” The Doctor began to explain.

“You mean he needs to go through that again?” WooSung said shakily.

The Doctor found herself unable to reply as she looked at the devastated faces of the FURTHER members.

“Will you be able to help him at all?” SeungEun stood with a blank expression on his face and unshed tears in his eyes.

“I won’t give up on him. Not again.” The Doctor promised.

SeungEun didn’t appear to have heard her as he continued to stare vacantly at ChungGuk’s face. The other members nodded at her determination. Ryan came running back into the room, breathless. He handed the detector over to The Doctor and bent over gasping to regain his breath. The Doctor turned back to ChungGuk and turned the detector on. Pointing at ChungGuk brought the screeching alarm to full volume and The Doctor quickly changed the setting to identification.

“ChungGuk is the alien?” Yaz asked in surprise.

“No. He’s definitely human.” The Doctor corrected.

“But you said the mind would have to be psychically strong. Beyond that of a human.”

“It is. I’m just not sure it’s ChungGuk. I think that it might…”

Before the Doctor could finish the detector chirped to indicate it was done. The Doctor quickly pulled up the information and gasped.

“I thought that had disappeared hundreds of years ago.”

“Who did?” Graham stepped towards the Doctor.

“The Vermina.”

“What’s the Vermina? Does he have a disease?” WooSung tightened his grip on ChungGuk’s hand.

“More like a parasite.” The Doctor explained. “The eggs of the Vermina need a strong source of psychic energy to feed off of until they are ready to hatch. They usually chose a host species so the effects on the carrier aren’t detrimental.”

“So why is ChungGuk like this?” Yaz shook her head in confusion.

“Human’s don’t have enough psychic energy to maintain the egg. It’s likely that the egg is draining ChungGuk faster than his levels can be replaced which is causing the mood swings and tiredness.”

“What are you waiting for?” Ryan shouted. “Cut it out before it kills him.”

“I can’t do that Ryan. This is an innocent life and there is no way to know ChungGuk would survive that.”

“Um… Doctor. You better look at this.” WooSung called out in a hesitant voice.

The Doctor followed his gaze to ChungGuk’s head and face where something was clearly moving below the skin and pushing outwards as if trying to escape.

“It’s starting to hatch.” She realised.

“Oh God.” Yaz chocked out.

“Doctor please do something.” DongHyeon begged.

“It’s responding to all of the tension and emotion in the air. I need you to clear the room and let me think.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” SeungEun bit out.

“No you in particular need to go.” The Doctor said calmly.

SeungEun let out a strangled cry of grief as he gazed past her at ChungGuk.

“Your love and concern for him are too strong. The Vermina egg can feel your energy and it is making it more active. You need to leave.”

SeungEun’s mouth opened and shut multiple times as he tried to rationalise what was happening. In the end it took WooSung getting up from his kneeling position and leading the others away with gentle words and calming hands.

“Should we leave too?” Graham asked.

“Now that the egg is trying to leave I might be able to get it out safely but I’ll need somethings from the TARDIS.”

“What do you need?”

The Doctor send Yaz and Graham off to get the supplies while Ryan took up to position of trying to hold ChungGuk down.

“This can’t be good for him. He’s going to injure himself.” Ryan muttered.

The Doctor set her mouth in a firm line and began tracing the lines where the Vermina pushed against ChungGuk’s skin.

“I heard you. I’m going to help you get out okay? Just hold on a little longer.” The Doctor whispered.

“Do you think it will work?” Ryan asked quietly.

“I have to believe it will.”

“Have you ever done this before?”

“No. The Vermina were a very secretive race and nobody has even seen them in over seven hundred years.”

“Do you even know what you’re doing?”

“That’s all part of the fun.” The Doctor sighed and continued tracing. She prayed that the others would return in time.

“What’s taking them so long?” Ryan wondered after several minutes filled only with ChungGuk’s laboured breathing had passed.

“I don’t know but we’re running out of time.”

“Why don’t we just take him to the TARDIS? I can carry him.”

“No we shouldn’t move him.” The Doctor cried out making Ryan freeze where he had his hands under ChungGuk’s knees.

“Why not?”

“ChungGuk is the carrier of a Vermina egg that is about to hatch.”

“Yeah, I know that Doc. That’s the whole reason we are in this mess.”

“Yes but the egg has parents Ryan.” The Doctor clarified.

Realisation dawned on Ryan’s face and he looked frantically around the room as if he expected to see the aliens hiding in the shadows.

“The ones that ChungGuk kept seeing?”

“Most likely.”

“Surely that will know we are trying to help him.”

“They might but I can’t take the risk. If they see us carrying their child towards a space ship and attack I can’t protect everyone.”

“We have to do something Doctor. ChungGuk will die.”

“I know.”

The Doctor felt the weight of the impossible choice on her shoulders. What was taking the others so long? She looked down at ChungGuk and her breath escaped her. The Vermina was still pushing at the skin of ChungGuk’s face and head. The movement and force of the pushed has caused ChungGuk to started bleeding from his mouth, nose and ears. They were running out of time.

The Doctor looked around the room to try and find the parents where Ryan had failed but saw nothing. She turned back ChungGuk as he started choking and knew she had to act. If she did nothing they would both die.

“Ryan we have to take him.”

“What? But you said-”

“I know what I said by we have to move now or we’re going to lose him.”

Ryan nodded frantically and moved closer to pick ChungGuk up. The Doctor showed him how to support his head properly before she led the way out of the room. As they made their way down the corridor towards the TARDIS The Doctor could feel menace rising in the air. The Vermina clearly weren’t happy with their attempt to move their carrier. She grit her teeth and hoped they could hold off long enough to get ChungGuk the help he needed.

The closer they got the feeling grew and made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She urged Ryan to run faster but the increased speed jostled ChungGuk. The boy let out a cry of pain and The Doctor could felt the anger towards them become physical around them.

A flash of black appeared in the corner of her eye a split second before a force slammed her against the wall.

“Ryan keep going get ChungGuk to the TARDIS.” She groaned in pain.

“Doctor I can’t-” Ryan started.

“Go. You have to go.”

Ryan stopped and looked between The Doctor and the corner that obstructed the TARDIS.

“We’ll be back.” He said firmly before turning and running away.

Before he reached the turn of the hallway two blurs surrounded him began to herd him towards and open cupboard on the wall. The Doctor used the last of her strength to throw herself towards Ryan but was blocked by a solid wall of black smoke. The Vermina slapped her to the side and she hit another wall.

As she slid down the wall her swirling vision watched the figures disappear with Ryan and ChungGuk. The Doctor tried to regain her feet but just collapsed back to the floor as the light slipped from her eyes and she passed out.

Concerned voices and a pair of hands shaking her woke The Doctor. She was slumped against the wall in the same corridor and her unfocused eyes met Yaz’s worried ones.

“Doctor? Can you hear me?”

“Where is Ryan? ChungGuk?” The Doctor slurred out.

The others crowding the hall looked at each other.

“They aren’t with you?” The Doctor asked desperately.

“No. We were on our way back to you we found you here. We haven’t seen Ryan or ChungGuk.” Graham said.

The Doctor began to push herself up the wall to stand.

“We have to go after them.”

“You shouldn’t be moving Doc.” Graham placed a hand on her arm to try and make her sit down again.

“We don’t have time Graham. If we don’t find them ChungGuk won’t survive.”

“Then lead the way.” SeungEun said with a nod.

The Doctor took a deep breath to stop the world from spinning and yanked open the cupboard door before leading the way down the ladder and into the gloom below.


	11. Time's run out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun DUN DUUUUUN! Whats going to happen? How does it go down?  
> Only one chapter left... is it a good ending?  
> I hope you've enjoyed the story and please check out my other stories if you want more.  
> Any comments or kudos would literally give me life (I need it deadlines are killing me)  
> Please enjoy xxx

Ryan struggled where he was pinned to the wall by an invisible force. The paralysis swirled through his body and his head hurt from the effort of disobeying the aliens that were with him in the underground room. Some kind of psychic presence weighed down on his mind making Ryan feel sluggish and dizzy.

ChungGuk was laid out on a set of old chests that had been dragged into the centre of the room. The only light source was from a grill in the ceiling that let the shifting rays fall directly onto the boy and left the rest of the musty room in shadow.

So far the aliens hadn’t made a move towards ChungGuk other than placing him gently where he lay. They seemed to stalk around the boy with intense focus and a touch of agitation. Despite Ryan’s attempts to talk to them and explain what they were trying to do he had been completely ignored.

It was odd to watch the dark, silent masses move around the space since it was so dim but Ryan could tell where they were from the invasive presence that filled his mind. It was hard to know what their intentions were but Ryan definitely felt the rising desperation.

Ryan continued to struggle violently against the wall. He couldn’t see ChungGuk clearly. His head had fallen to the side facing away from him but the rattle in his chest was almost deafening in the near silence. Ryan was getting more worried for the boy the longer they spent in the basement.

The Doctor wouldn’t have tried to move him if she had any other option. They were wasting seconds ChungGuk didn’t have to waste. He hadn’t moved at all the entire time and Ryan found himself missing the pained moans that at least told him ChungGuk was still fighting for life.

“Please. You have to let us go. We only want to help.” He begged.

One of the Vermina swooped towards him only stopping when it was a few centimetres away from his face. Ryan let out a gasp but kept still as he tried to portray his sincerity. The swirling entity seemed to regard him a few moments longer before it returned to ChungGuk.

“I get that you’re anxious to meet your baby but you need to let me find my friend so we can help. They’ll both die if you don’t let us go.”

This time the Vermina didn’t even pause in its continuous floating movements. They hovered around ChungGuk and slowly grew closer.

“We’re wasting time!” Ryan cried pulling against the force weakly.

The shadows remained focused on the idol and moved to either side of his body.

“Her name’s the Doctor. She can really help you.” Ryan was getting desperate as the two aliens placed themselves level with ChungGuk’s head.

Before he could continue his pleads the bigger of the two entities let out a vibration and a tendril that had been stretching out turned stiff and sharp. The Vermina moved the tip of the knife like limb to the crown of ChungGuk’s forehead.

“What are you doing? You can’t! You’ll kill him.” Ryan yelled desperately.

The Vermina paused as if assessing the situation and the shadowed swirls twitched faster. The two beings intermingled their tendrils before the smaller of the two withdrew. They both remained still and silent for a moment then the other Vermina readied the blade again.

“Please just listen to me!” Ryan shoved his body up against the force and felt it give way a little but not enough to break free.

The Vermina ignored his words and pushed the tendril down slowly drawing a pained moan from ChungGuk. Ryan saw a gush of something dark run through ChungGuk’s hair and he turned away unable to look.

“Enough.” The Doctor’s voice rang out in the darkness.

Both Vermina zipped toward ChungGuk and hovered over him ominously; blocking him from view. Ryan searched the room with just his eyes trying not to give anything away. A flash of something caught his eye but it was gone before he could make anything out.

“Step away from him and let me help. I can make sure no one gets hurt.”

The Doctor slowly stepped out from the shadowed corner of the room opposite Ryan. She held her hands up in a show of neutrality.

“No one else needs to get hurt. We can stop this right now.”

The aliens still surrounded ChungGuk but they seemed to have moved their attention to The Doctor as she talked in a calming voice. The bigger Vermina of the pair swarmed into a tighter and denser cloud as it moved towards the Doctor menacingly.

“I know what you are and I know you have been in hiding for a long time but I can help you. I can find you a new home if that’s what you need.” The Doctor looked unfazed by the slowly advancing being.

“You know nothing of us.” A deep and distorted voice appeared in Ryan’s mind.

“Interspecies telepathic communication… Amazing.” The Doctor breathed with wide eyes.

“This is nothing of our true power Timelord.” The voice sneered making Ryan’s head ache.

“I’m sure you must be very strong.” The Doctor nodded in reverence. “After all it was you that was restricting my scan of energies, am I right?”

“It was necessary.” The second Vermina said defensively as it spiked out into the air above ChungGuk.

“I can understand you would do anything to protect your child but you have to see they are both growing weaker. There isn’t much time.”

The two beings pulsed as their smoky shapes condensed and expanded. They made no move but seemed to be waiting for something to happen.

“You know of us?” The smaller alien’s words finally buzzed through Ryan’s head.

“I know your home became unstable so you travelled the stars. Your people developed their natural psychic ability to protect themselves from hostility as they wandered. Then all of your kind disappeared hundreds of years ago to never been seen again.” The Doctor recounted the story.

“We were forced into hiding by a violent fragment of our own people.” The Vermina hissed.

“They committed genocide of all those they deemed too weak; those that stood against them; and those that had settled amongst other races.” Their partner added.

“I’m sorry you went through something so terrible but we only want to help.” The Doctor replied earnestly.

“Then why does that one bring a weapon?” The bigger Vermina thundered as detective Wilkins was thrown across the room to hit the wall by Ryan. The gun fell from her hand and clattered across the floor.

“She is ignorant of your existence. Earth is primitive and they don’t know about the other races of space.” The Doctor explained quickly. “We mean you no harm and only want to help. She doesn’t speak or act for us.”

The Vermin paused but must have sensed The Doctor’s sincerity because the detective slumped heavily to the ground and Ryan was gently let down to his feet.

“Thank you.” The Doctor kept her gaze on the Vermina where they still hovered above ChungGuk.”

“May I?” She asked gently.

Both aliens remained still for a moment before retreating to the edges of the room where they continued to prowl.

The Doctor hurried towards ChungGuk and felt his pulse before letting out a relieved sigh. She scanned his body with the sonic and then concentrated on his head. After a while she placed both hands gently on his temples and lifted his head to look closer.

“Can the others come in as well? I will need their help.”

“They can but only he may help.” Ryan felt a push against his back towards where the Doctor stood in the halo of light.

The Doctor nodded and continued her ministrations as the rest of the group came out into the open.

“What’s the plan Doc?” Ryan whispered as he joined her.

“Go and get the equipment from Yaz and Graham.” Ryan nodded and stood to leave when The Doctor stopped him with a hand on his wrist.

“And get someone to check on the detective.”

“Check she’s okay or check she’s still knocked out?” Ryan asked with a ghost of a smile before moving away.

The Doctor returned her gaze to ChungGuk and began tracing at the where the Vermina was pushing out at his skin.

“You want to come out and see the world? I don’t blame you. It’s beautiful and crazy and fascinating.” She whispered tenderly.

Ryan returned with arms laden in equipment. The Doctor reached for a silver lamp and set it on a tripod so it was over ChungGuk’s head and switched it on. A green light glowed softly from it and caused the constant bulging of ChungGuk’s skin to concentrate in the area.

The Doctor then grabbed a crystalline stylus and fiddled with the twisting setting makers to get what she needed.

“Ryan I need you to hold him down. This is going to look bad.” He looked at her with concern but did as asked.

As soon as The Doctor directed the wand at ChungGuk’s head his body seized up and his eyes flew open. The solid back of his gazed nearly made Ryan recoil in shock but he wrestled ChungGuk back onto the trunks and held on. ChungGuk bucked and blood began to pour from his mouth in large pumps. The other members cried out from the edge of the room and DongHyeon had to hold SeungEun back.

After a few more adjustments the Doctor grabbed a softly glowing jar from her tools and opened the lid with her teeth.

“Let’s get this baby out.” She muttered to herself.

With a final nod between the two she moved the jar over the highlighted area on ChungGuk’s forehead and flipped a switch on the bottom of the jar. A bright white swirl filled the container. ChungGuk began jerking even more violently and gasping out in pain.

The Doctor heard a scuffle from behind her and turned to see SeungEun being held back by WooSung and DongHyeon now. The boy’s face was contorted with anguish and tears streamed down his face.

“You need to stay back.” She called out to the group.

SeungEun struggled for a while longer before going limp in his members arm but he kept his gaze on ChungGuk who was still shaking.

“Doctor…” Ryan’s wonder-filled voice caught The Doctor’s attention and she looked back.

A dark smoke was slowly seeping out of ChungGuk’s skin and into the jar drawn to the white energy in the jar. The black was slowly disappearing from his eyes as well and The Doctor could make out some of his unseeing brown iris.

The Doctor bit her lip and hoped it wasn’t too late for ChungGuk. It was hard to know how much damage the young Vermina had done while trying to survive in a less than ideal host.

Everyone seemed to hold their breath as the last wisps of the being slipped from ChungGuk and into the jar. Once it had left the boy completely the soft glow of the jar dispersed and ChungGuk slumped against the surface under him.

“It is done.” The voice of one of the Vermina parents invaded the Doctors mind as well as an overwhelming gratitude and relief.

“It is.” She agreed and reach forward to pick up the jar.

She lifted it gently and cradled it in both her hands. The Doctor turned to the expectant parents who had moved closer as they waited. Dipping her hand inside The Doctor pulled the young Vermina out of the jar and offered it to the waiting pair.

Slowly the small black tendrils reached out towards the others and two big tendrils wrapped around the little limbs pulling the being from The Doctor’s hand and into the air. The baby seemed to shake free of the energy imitation that had drawn it out and paused to observe the room.

After a moment of stillness that ball of swirling black matter leaped into the air and whizzed around its parents.

The Doctor smiled as the family became acquainted but a broken wail shattered her happiness and she turned to see SeungEun clutching a limp ChungGuk to his chest. The bigger boy cradled ChungGuk’s head to his shoulder and let tears stream freely down his cheeks.

“Please help him.” Whispered DongHyeon. “We can’t go on without him.”

"He isn't breathing. Please... Please, please help him." SeungEun begged.

The Doctor pushed up her sleeves, set her face and got to work.


	12. Farewell friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There we go lads. The last installment for this story. I hope you have enjoyed reading and feel satisfied with the ending.  
> Please leave any comments or kudos you want to.  
> I hope you enjoy xxx

The Doctor sat back and wiped her forehead from the sweat that had gathered. The delicate procedure of regenerating brain tissue and reconnecting neurones had taken a lot of focus and she found her hands were shaking from the exertion.

Sitting back heavily she felt the many pairs of expectant eyes on her face.

“He’s going to be fine.”

People cheered and one of the boys started crying again but The Doctor was too tired to open her eyes and see who.

“You okay Doc?” Yaz placed a steadying hand on The Doctor’s shoulder and squeezed.

“Just give me a minute… brain offline…” Yaz laughed and shook her lightly.

Pulling herself back together took longer than The Doctor who like to admit but she had been drained by the experience. Having someone’s life, and everyone else’s happiness, in her hands had been a scary knowledge to bare.

Finally sitting up fully she faced the family of Vermina that had kept vigil for the procedure.

“Let’s never do this again.” She smiled weakly.

“We would never have knowingly placed another in such danger.” One of the Vermina assured her.

“We had never encountered humans before we arrived here. Our pursuers forced us to stop here before we reached our usual breeding planet. There was no other choice and he seemed strong.” The other added.

“Regardless, you cannot use a human as your host again.” The Doctor told them sternly.

“We won’t and we will spread the word amongst our own people. We offer our apologies for the harm we have caused.”

The Doctor looked over at all the boys watching them with wide eyes. They were gathered around ChungGuk who was lying with his head in SeungEun’s lap again.

“I think there won’t be any lasting damage. I managed to rebuild his brain and fix everything.”

“You fixed him?” SeungEun asked with a frown.

“Yes. Having an aliens maturing in his head didn’t do him any good.” The Doctor looked to SeungEun with confusion.

“But if you fixed… does that mean… will he still be… I mean…”

“Will he still want to be a he?” The Doctor finished for him.

SeungEun nodded and looked down.

“That isn’t something that needed to be fixed. He’s perfect just the way he is no matter how he decides to present himself.” The Doctor said kindly.

SeungEun let out a deep breath and snapped his gaze up to meet The Doctor’s. Seeing only sincerity and kindness he smiled back.

“Yeah. He is perfect.”

“Can you at least wait for him to wake up before you act sickeningly sweet?” WooSung pretended to gag and got a punch from DongHyeon in return.

“Aish Hyung. That hurt.” WooSung winced and rubbed his arm.

“Serves you right.” DongHyeon laughed.

“Are they okay as well?” It took a moment for The Doctor to place the voice and she looked down to the youngest member of the band. He was looking over that the Vermina, who were still silently observing, with a look of awe.

“Aww Shuren-a managed to overcome his shyness.” DongHyeon ruffled the hair of the protesting boy with affection.

The boy blushed brightly but soon turned his attention back to the aliens.

“Yeah. They even helped to stabilise ChungGuk.” The Doctor informed them.

“Really?” Shuren asked turned his ever widening eyes to the Vermina family. “Thank you for saving ChungGuk-gē. He is very special to me and I owe you so much for saving his life.”

Shuren bowed deeply to the aliens and The Doctor felt pride shoot through her body at the boy’s acceptance of the exotic.

“It is us that should be thanking you. We have been gifted the greatest treasure of all by your friend’s actions.” The deep vibration of the Vermina’s speech left tingles on the back of The Doctor’s head.

“He has very strong mental energy which drew us to him but it was his kindness to all of you that proved he would be an adequate host for us.”

“Why did you need a host?” DongHyeon asked with clear interest.

“The young of our species are incapable of producing the psychic energy we need to survive when they are first birthed. As we are insubstantial we cannot carry our own and require a host for six months where they can feed of the carrier’s psychic energies.” The larger Vermina explained while twinning the tendrils with the other Vermina and their young.

“That is so cool.” WooSung breathed.

“ChungGuk helped your baby develop with his strength of mind?” DongHyeon whispered in amazement.

“Indeed.” The Vermina confirmed. “He is remarkable for a human.”

“He’s always been unbelievable.” SeungEun added absent mindedly from the chests where he sat stroking ChungGuk’s hair.

The fondness in his gaze caused The Doctor’s heart to melt as the boy held ChungGuk with such care and love.

“Again man! Seriously? Do you want me to barf all over you?” WooSung huffed but couldn’t hide his smile at the sweet interaction. Even the punch DongHyeon landed was gentle.

“Doctor I think he’s waking up.” SeungEun exclaimed and looked at her with a worried expression.

The Doctor pushed forward and scanned up and down with the sonic. When nothing worrying came back in the readings she took his pulse again. When she had finished ChungGuk was shifting in his sleep and eyelids flickered quickly. A quite groan escaped his chest and a hand came up to rub his eyes.

“Gukkie?” SeungEun called gently. 

Everyone seemed to hold their breath as his eyes fluttered open and he gazed up at SeungEun before taking in his surroundings.

“Gukkie, are you with us?” SeungEun stroked his cheek.

“Yeah I’m here.” ChungGuk spoke quietly.

A smile broke out on SeungEun’s face and tears threatened to fall again but ChungGuk tutted and reached up to mirror SeungEun’s hand on his own face.

“Don’t cry you big baby. You’ll ruin your bad boy aura.”

“Too late for that now Gukkie.”

“Oh well, I like you better like this.” ChungGuk sighed.

“I think I liked it better when you were unconscious.” WooSung whined.

ChungGuk chuckled and let SeungEun help him sit up. He held up his arms and all of the member piled into his arms. It made a comical image as ChungGuk was about two foot smaller than all of the others but the affection the boys had for each other filled the room.

ChungGuk met the Doctor’s eyes over Shuren’s shoulder and smiled brightly. The Doctor couldn’t help but return it. When the reunion was over ChungGuk turned to the Doctor.

“Thank you for helping me. For believing in me.”

The Doctor tried to swallow around the lump of guilt that had arrived in her throat and gave ChungGuk a nod followed by a weak smile.

“They were amazing ChungGuk-a.” DongHyeon gushed.

“The Doctor was like a crazy surgeon and Yaz became a badass and took out the detective.” WooSung laughed.

“It’s a shame you missed it all.” Shuren added quietly.

“A damn shame. You’ll just have to update me when we… oh… wow.” ChungGuk paused him his attempt to stand up as his gaze fell on the Vermina.   
“Hello.” He said simply.

“Greetings blessed host. We offer our eternal gratitude for the great service you have paid us and welcome you into the love and protection of our family.” Both of the Vermina seemed to dip in reverence to ChungGuk.

“It was my honour to be charged with the care and protection of your new-born.” ChungGuk bowed back in return.

“You knew?” SeungEun asked in surprise.

“I didn’t at the time.” ChungGuk shook his head. “But looking back now I can sense that she was there.”

“I was gonna say…” WooSung strangled out as he recovered from the shock.

“Can I say goodbye?” ChungGuk asked the Vermina.

“You’re leaving?” Yaz broke in and stepped forward.

“We must.” The Vermina said. “It is not safe for us to stay here any longer. We have a haven we can reach now where others of our kind are.”

“Of course.” The Doctor nodded.

“We will never forget what you have given us.” Both Vermina dipped down again while the young being slowly approached ChungGuk.

ChungGuk reached out his hand and after a cautious first inspection the baby seemed to recognise ChungGuk and zipped around him; bumping into his arms and back as it went.

“Hey you.” ChungGuk laughed. “Live well and grow up strong so that we can meet again in the future.”

The baby brushed gently against his cheek and let out a high pitched whine and puff of smoke before returning to its parents.

“Goodbye and good luck.” ChungGuk wished them.

The others all chorused farewells and watched as the Vermina dipped one last time before they rose up through the grill in the ceiling and disappeared from view.

“Do you think they will make it?” Graham asked after a moment of silence.

“They’ll be fine.” The Doctor smiled.

“Are you okay ChungGuk-a?” DongHyeon asked.

ChungGuk was standing with his face tilted into the light and his eyes closed. A single tear fell from his eye but when he turned to answer he was smiling.

“I’m glad they can be a family but I feel… lonely now that they’re gone.”

“Don’t be lonely ChungGuk. You have us. You have me.” SeungEun rumbled and pulled the boy into his embrace. He looked into his eyes lovingly.

“I have you?” ChungGuk repeated lightly.

“Forever.” SeungEun guided ChungGuk’s face closer to his own with a hand on his jaw.

They both leaned in and kissed tenderly. The others in the room averted their eyes as the couple reassured each other of their continued wellbeing and love. Finally SeungEun pulled away by kept ChungGuk tucked into his chest.

“And we’re here too.” WooSung poked at ChungGuk cheekily.

“What would I do without you?” ChungGuk rolled his eyes.

“Probably forget we have a concert tonight and take SeungEun to bed right now.” 

SeungEun choked on his breath and the others howled in laughter. When everyone finally calmed down they were holding their aching sides and wiping away tears.

“Will he be okay to perform?” Their manager asked from where she stood watching over the detective.

“Yeah. All of the damage has been corrected and without the drain on his psyche I imagine he will recover very quickly.” The Doctor assessed ChungGuk with her gaze.

“I feel fine.” ChungGuk added.

“Yay! FURTHER Fighting!” DongHyeon yelled and placed his hand in for a team celebration. The other members put their hands on top and then turned expectantly to the others.

“Come on Doctor.” WooSung beamed.

Team TARDIS added their hands to the group and DongHyeon placed his other hand on top; pumping the piled hands up and down a few times.

“1, 2, 3… Let’s go further!” They all yelled together and threw their hands into the air.

“Okay boys if we are doing this we need to get you into makeup now.” Their manager reminded them.

“Alright let’s go.” DongHyeon bounced off in the direction of the door with WooSung in tow.

“You’ll stay and watch won’t you?” Shuren asked the others shyly.

“If we’re welcome too.” The Doctor said.

“Of course you are.” Manager Lee smiled at them. “We have some VIP tickets left over in case one of the boys wanted to bring people.”

“Well then we’ll be there.” Yaz announced happily.

Shuren bowed and followed his band mates out of the basement.

A couple of hours later team TARDIS found themselves in the VIP section of the concert jumping around along with the boys on stage. The performance was fun and it was great to see all the boys free of their stress. The skits they did between stages were hilarious and the little messages to the fans were entertaining and heart-warming to witness.

Just as the final stage started Ryan nudged Graham and pointed at the stage laughing.

“What?” Graham asked scanning the stage to see what was so funny.

“Don’t you think ChungGuk’s new costume looks very… swish?” Ryan forced out between giggles.

Graham shook his head at Ryan’s silliness and looked closer at the performing idols. To his disbelief his retro, oversized sunglasses were perched on ChungGuk’s nosed as he danced along to the track.

“You’ve got to admit they look much better on him.” Yaz teased.

Once the show had finished they made their way backstage to congratulate the boys on the amazing job they had done. The boys thanked them in return and ChungGuk sheepishly handed the glasses back to Graham who accepted them with a knowing smile.

They left the boys with many hugs, promises to stay in touch, and suspiciously shiny eyes but as they returned to the TARDIS the jubilation of the night and the day’s events kept them going.

“Hey Doc do you have anywhere I can plug my phone in for music?” Ryan asked.

“Sure that slot there.” The Doctor waved from where she was plotting the course for their next trip.

Ryan busied himself with setting it up and finding the song he wanted.

“Will we actually get her to fly this time?” Graham said sceptically.

“I don’t see why not. It was the Vermina baby that was keeping us here by calling out to the TARDIS. We should be able to head off now.” The Doctor laughed.

“Here we go.” Exclaimed Ryan as the beginnings of a melody filtered into the TARDIS.

“What’s this?” Yaz wondered.

“Ladders from the album DOCTOR’D.” Ryan explained proudly. “FURTHER’s second album. I always liked this song but I have a sneaky suspicion I know who it’s all about now.”

The others stopped and all listened to the lyrics playing to the funky, uplifting backing.

When you're facing the ladder of life  
It can be scary,  
It can be lonely  
When your brain is fighting your heart  
You can be angry  
You can be brave  
Everyone tells you to climb up  
But the hardest thing to do  
Is climb down to you  
And I climb down to you.

“I think the ability for the TARDIS to translate all languages is my new favourite ability.” Ryan sighed.

The others all laughed and joined in bopping to the music as the TARDIS flew off through the stars to their next advanture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO that's that. I'm really proud of this for my first toe dip into writing. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed the writing. If you want to please go and check out my other stuff.  
> Have a good day/night.  
> See ya!


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